Man seriously injured in Selden collision, fire official says
Rescuers at to the scene where a silver Subaru WRX collided with a large pickup on Tuesday night, according to officials. Credit: Chris Sabella
A pickup truck broadsided a sports sedan in Selden Tuesday night, seriously injuring a passenger when the dashboard and the car's frame collapsed onto his legs, a fire official said.
It took 40 minutes to cut the roof and roll back the dashboard and metal from the male passenger, who was in a silver Subaru WRX, said Third Assistant Chief Keith Kostrna of the Selden Fire Department.
Cole Hopkins, 24, of Lake Ronkonkoma, was alert and taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries, Kostrna and Suffolk County police said, while both drivers were also taken to the hospital with minor injuries. Police identified the Subaru driver as Mario Castoria, 24, of Lake Ronkonkoma and the pickup driver as Erick Granados, 42, of Brentwood.
Police said late Tuesday night that no arrests were made.
Kostrna said the Subaru was going east on Middle Country Road just after 8 p.m. when it turned left into a shopping center and was hit by a westbound Dodge Ram. Both vehicles careened onto the sidewalk about 40 feet away from the crash, he said.
The sedan took a serious hit on the passenger side, Kostrna said, because the other vehicle was a large pickup and because there were no skid marks found, an indication that no brakes were applied.
Both drivers were out of their vehicles and walking when the first rescuers arrived, said Kostrna, who was the second emergency responder at the scene.
But helping Hopkins was "a very extended extrication," he said.
"Essentially the car was uncooperating," Kostrna said. "Where the patient's feet were, we could not get tools close enough. We had to keep on readjusting everything because every time we moved something, it would hurt the patient so we had to stop and readjust ourselves."
He added, "The patient was alert. He had his wits about him. He knew what was going on."
Firefighters and Suffolk police emergency service units performed the extrication, Kostrna said.
Kostrna said police crime scene investigators arrived to document the crash.
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