Cops: Impaired driver hit two parked cars

A Lindenhurst man who wove in and out of his lanes in North Lindenhurst with his headlights off before hitting two parked cars Wednesday night faces charges of impaired driving and leaving the scene of an accident, Suffolk County police said.

Another driver saw Michael Malalan, 41, driving a 1996 Mercury Sable with its headlights off on Straight Path at about 9:43 p.m., police said in a report.

The witness, who alerted police by calling 911, also said Malalan was driving north in the southbound lanes for a period.

Malalan then drove north on Wellwood Avenue, smacked into a 1998 Lexus parked on Berry Street and drove south, eventually hitting a 1993 Toyota parked at the intersection of Straight Path and 48th Street, police said.

Malalan then drove off before pulling over on 45th Street, possibly to assess the damage to his vehicle. At that time, the witness, who had followed Malalan, pointed him out to First Precinct officers. Police said there were no injuries.

A police spokesman said Malalan's arrest is not considered a wrong-way driving incident. "It was more that he was going in and out of his lanes," the spokesman said.

Since Nov. 15, when off-duty NYPD Officer Andre Menzies, 35, of North Babylon, was killed by an alleged wrong-way drunken driver on the Northern State Parkway in Dix Hills, Long Island enforcement officials have reported more than a dozen such driving incidents.

Malalan, of 106 Grand Ave., is charged with driving while his ability was impaired by drugs and leaving the scene of an accident, police said. He is scheduled for arraignment Thursday at First District Court in Central Islip.