Cops: Driver killed in Riverhead crash was drunk

A 50-year-old Mastic man killed in a head-on collision last month in Riverhead had a blood-alcohol content of more than three times the legal limit, according to toxicology test results released Thursday.

Julio Velez had a blood-alcohol content of 0.28 percent when the car he was driving eastbound on Route 58 crossed into the westbound lane and collided with a sport utility vehicle at about 8 p.m. on April 7, Riverhead Town Police said.

Velez, who had to be extricated from the wreckage by volunteers from the Riverhead Fire Department, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The driver of the other vehicle, Lawanda Clemons, 36, of Riverhead, and passengers Devon Clemons, 20, of Riverhead, and Paul Shorter, Jr., 21, of Middle Island, were treated at the scene and then taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead for treatment of minor injuries, police said.

Police said an investigation later revealed Velez had also been involved in two minor accidents west of the fatal accident scene that night -- and had fled those accidents.

With Patrick Whittle and Emily Ngo