LIE car race at 140 mph ends in crashes

Two drivers racing each other at more than 140 mph early Thursday on the Long Island Expressway crashed yards apart after leaving the roadway, one car erupting into a fireball when it hit gas pumps law enforcement officials said.

Both drivers were arrested.

One man was hurt in the crashes in Islandia, and deputies said the toll could have been worse because both cars carried passengers.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone that fast . . . especially, this time of year when they're doing roadwork, when there's potholes. One hole at that speed . . . and, well, it's over," sheriff's spokesman Chief Michael Sharkey said. "It's insane."

A Suffolk deputy in the median near Exit 59 in Ronkonkoma clocked the cars, a red 2005 Dodge Neon SRT and a yellow 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, at more than 140 mph as they headed west about 12:30 a.m. The speed limit there is 55 mph. He radioed ahead to other deputies. But moments later the cars left the expressway.

One crashed into the fence of a Hooters on the north service road near Exit 58 in Islandia and the other struck the pumps of a Gulf gas station, setting it ablaze.

The drivers were each charged with engaging in an unlawful speed contest, second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving, criminal mischief, unlawful fleeing from a police officer and speeding, police said.

The driver of the Neon was identified as Joseph Skarka, 20, of Central Islip. The driver of the Lancer was identified as Jeffrey Browne, 21, of Bohemia. Arraignment details were not immediately available.

Deputies said both cars carried passengers, all men between ages 19 and 21. One passenger suffered a concussion and was treated and released from St. Catherine of Siena Hospital, Sharkey said.

Though it's not a widespread problem, Suffolk County police have had to deal with street racing, assistant chief of patrol Patrick Cuff said. Police have found - and arrested - drivers at night races in deserted areas like Heartland Industrial Park in Brentwood, he said, though those typically took place in the summer.

A conviction may come with a license suspension and the car may be seized and sold at police auction, he said.

The night manager at the Gulf station, Umit Ozdemir, called the crash "scary."

Ozdemir said he was doing paperwork, looked up - and watched as the Neon crashed into the pumps.

"I lift my head," he said. "I see one car, coming sideways, and it hits the pump. I run towards the car to see if anybody is hurt. I'm like 10 feet away and the car, it blows up."

Ozdemir said he saw three men run from the car just before the explosion.

"They were so lucky," he said. "If they don't get out, like another 10 seconds, they're dead. That's how lucky."

He said he triggered the fire-suppression system and shut off all the gas line feeds. The Lakeland Fire Department later put out the fire.

"It was really scary, man," Ozdemir said. "Can you picture something coming at you and it crashes into the gas pump and it explodes and there's fire and you work in the gas station? Can you imagine that?"

With Nicholas Spangler