Woman charged with DWI in wrong-way crash

A Commack woman with a previous drunken driving conviction was again drunk when she drove the wrong way down Veterans Highway on Monday night, striking another vehicle and hurting four people, Suffolk police said.

Officers arrested Susan Torns, 57, at a hospital and charged her with drunken driving following the 7:42 p.m. Monday collision about a quarter-mile east of Harned Road, police said.

Police said Torns was in a 2001 Infinity as she drove east in the westbound lanes, striking another car. The collision "was pretty much directly head on," said Commack Fire Department Assistant Chief Andy Babajko.

All four people in the car Torns struck were hospitalized at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, but were expected to recover, officials said.

Torns also received nonlife-threatening injuries and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip before being transferred to Stony Brook University Medical Center. The extent of her injuries was not clear Tuesday morning.

It took about 10 minutes for firefighters using hydraulic tools to remove the roof and dash of Torns' car and free her, Babajko said.

Torns was arrested in Suffolk in April 2000 and charged with misdemeanor driving under the influence, according to court records. She pleaded guilty in 2001 and was sentenced to 3 years' probation and a $500 fine.