Cops: Man drives drunk, slams into West Babylon house

An Islandia man drove straight into the bedroom of a West Babylon home early Sunday morning, missing two occupants by inches, authorities said.

Martin Diaz, 21, was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated after the incident.

Diaz was driving a 2001 Nissan Maxima just before 5 a.m. when he veered into a home on Belmont Avenue, Suffolk police said. The front end of the car crashed into the side of the house, coming to a stop just inches away from where Sandra Derienzo's 26-year-old daughter and 25-year-old niece were sleeping, said John Schneidawin, chief of department of the North Babylon Fire Company.

"It was pretty close," Schneidawin said.

Derienzo, the owner of the home, said she was asleep on the second floor of the house when the crash occurred.

"My daughter was screaming, 'Call 911!' " Derienzo said. "She was like, 'Mom, there's a car in my bedroom!' I was screaming. I was frantic."

The cousins were not injured, but they were traumatized, Derienzo said.

"If he had come in at a different angle, where the window was, they could have been killed," she said.

Police arrested Diaz and charged him with driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. Diaz was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, where he was treated for minor injuries.