Police: Mastic Beach teen critically hurt in Selden head-on crash
Suffolk police and firefighters at the scene of a head-on crash that occurred on Nicolls Road in Selden about 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015. Credit: Stringer News Service
A Mastic Beach teen was critically injured Tuesday night when the car she was driving crossed the median on Nicolls Road in Selden, crashing head-on into a Jeep, Suffolk County police said.
Jenna Kozak, 17, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where she was in critical condition, police said. The driver of the Jeep, Vania Costa-Pereira, 32, of Farmingville, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The teen, driving a 1999 Acura Integra, was headed south on Nicolls just north of Portion Road at about 7:30 p.m. when police said her car crossed the center median, which is grass, and crashed into the northbound 2008 Jeep Wrangler driven by Costa-Pereira, police said.
The cause of the crash is under investigation and no charges have been filed.
Anyone with information about the crash is urged to call the Sixth Squad at 631-854-8652.
CORRECTION: The direction each car was traveling was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
