LI BRIEFS

MASSAPEQUA/Crash victim upgraded from critical to serious condition

The condition of a Massapequa college student who was critically injured after he crashed into a wall near his Rhode Island school has improved, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.

Driver Michael Canning, 19, one of the four sophomores injured in the single-vehicle crash, has been upgraded from critical to serious condition, Ellen Slingsby, a spokeswoman for Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, said.

Canning has broken ribs and internal bleeding. His three passengers - Christopher Wands of Port Washington, Christopher Connors of Garden City, and Ian Cadzin of East Rockaway - are listed in fair condition. All of the men are 19.

Canning crashed his sport utility vehicle Thursday into a wall near the front gate of the famed Breakers mansion, just off campus from Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I.

Newport Police Lt. William Fitzgerald said Friday it appears that speed was a factor in the 1:38 a.m. accident. - GARY DYMSKI

MASTIC/Cops: Mom drunk when she crashed car carrying toddler

A Bay Shore mother faces a felony charge after driving drunk and crashing into a parked car in Mastic with her 3-year-old daughter in the backseat, Suffolk County police said.

Dawn Mills, 40, of 91 S. Clinton Ave., was arrested at about 12:45 a.m. Thursday after her 1999 Pontiac Bonneville smacked into a parked car on Robinwood Street, police said.

Mills drove away but was stopped a short time later. The child was treated for a minor injury at a hospital before being released to a relative, police said.

Mills is charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, endangering the welfare of a child and leaving the scene of an accident, police said.

Under Leandra's Law, the aggravated driving charge is a felony.

- GARY DYMSKI