Deputy sheriff's car hit after accident

All eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway at Exit 43 were closed Sunday morning after two related accidents -- one involving a deputy sheriff's car -- the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department said.

The first accident, which occurred at about 6:55 a.m., involved a convertible and a minivan. The driver of the convertible, a man in his 20s or 30s, had to be freed from the wreckage by Bay Shore Fire Department members using heavy rescue equipment, Asst. Chief John Ippolito, Jr. said.

The man was taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore in critical condition, Ippolito said.

Then, at 7:42 a.m., as sheriff's deputies were doing traffic control on Sunrise Highway after the accident, a motorist ran into one of the patrol cars.

Ippolito said the deputy had been in his patrol car moments before the crash, but had heard the squealing of the motorist's brakes as he tried to stop, and jumped out of the patrol car before the impact.

No one was injured in that crash. Dense fog was in the area at the time but it is unknown whether the weather was a factor.

The eastbound lanes of Sunrise Highway continue to be closed as the investigation into the crashes is ongoing.