Cops: Man killed, stepson hurt in LIE crash
A motorist was killed and another injured in a Melville crash that has shut down the westbound Long Island Expressway on April 21, 2014, authorities said. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
A Coram stepfather was killed and his stepson injured in a single-car crash that shut down the westbound Long Island Expressway in Melville on Monday evening, authorities said.
Dominic Bottiglieri, 83, was killed, and Rafael Ortiz, 57, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, Suffolk County police said early Tuesday.
Ortiz, also of Coram, sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police said Ortiz was driving a 2001 Toyota Camry west on the Long Island Expressway when the vehicle veered off the road and struck a pole east of Exit 50 in Melville, at about 7:25 p.m.
"We had one car that went off the road, and we had two people ejected from the vehicle," First Assistant Chief Jason Bernfeld of the Melville Fire Department, which handled the injured, said late Monday.
The LIE was shut down for several hours between Exit 49, Pinelawn Road, and Exit 50, Bagatelle Road, in Dix Hills, police said.
Police said the vehicle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing.
Detectives ask anyone with information about the crash to contact the Second Squad at 631-854-8252 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.
No criminality is suspected at this time, police said.
With Rosemary Olander
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified the relationship between the injured.
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