Smithtown fire chief crashed marked SUV, police say

Smithtown Fire Chief Steven Sisino crashed his official vehicle into a pole in Bay Shore on Thursday -- shortly after a dispatcher alerted officers to erratic driving involving the marked SUV.

Suffolk County police identified Sisino as the driver and said he was not arrested because he passed a field sobriety test.

Sisino, 54, and other Smithtown Fire Department officials could not be reached yesterday for comment.

On Thursday night, a police dispatcher reported a disturbance on the westbound Sunrise Highway service road involving the Smithtown fire chief's vehicle, according to a recording of the transmission.

"It's a Smithtown FD chief SUV driving all over the road," the dispatcher says.

The dispatcher later advises officers that a motorist is reporting that the chief's Ford Expedition has crashed into a pole on Spur Drive near Fifth Avenue in Bay Shore.

Police said the accident occurred at about 7 p.m., police said.

After the crash, Sisino drove about two miles north to Fifth Avenue and Wicks Road in Brentwood, where he flagged down an officer to say he had been in an accident, police said.

Sisino refused medical help at the scene, according to police.

Officers drove Sisino to his Smithtown home, a police spokesman said, because there was "significant damage" to the front end of the vehicle.

Further details were not immediately available.

Sisino has been a correction officer in the county Sheriff's Department since 1997, according to payroll records.