Ridge man dies in LIE head-on crash

A 21-year-old Ridge man died last night after the car he was driving crossed over the median and crashed head-on into a pickup truck on the Long Island Expressway in Suffolk County, authorities said.

Salvatore Gianni was pronounced dead at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center at 9:15 p.m., less than an hour after the accident.

Chief Deputy Suffolk Sheriff Kerry Kneitel said Gianni was driving a Toyota Matrix westbound between exits 66 and 65 about 8:25 p.m. when his car crossed over a wide grass median and struck the pickup that was traveling in the eastbound center lane.

A 61-year-old man who was driving the pickup truck was not injured, Kneitel said. There were no other passengers in either vehicle, Kneitel said.

The sheriff's office is investigating, authorities said. The cause of the incident was not immediately known.