A 38-year-old Manorville man was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital early Saturday morning after being seriously injured in a single-car crash on County Road 51 sometime after 1:30 a.m.
Southampton Town Police responded to a report of the accident in the northbound lane of County Road 51 between Old Moriches Road and Speonk-Riverhead Road.
The man was operating a 2005 Toyota Prius southbound on CR51 south of Speonk-Riverhead Road when he lost control of the vehicle, sideswiped the guardrail along the southbound lane, crossed over the median, then the northbound lane of travel before crashing into a tree on the northbound shoulder of the road, according to a Southampton Police press release. The vehicle was found lying on its side, with its roof crushed in, leaning against a tree, according to police. It sustained “significant damage.”
After police closed the roadway to investigate the accident, a second vehicle drove through the flared road closure, past a police officer directing traffic and collided with an unoccupied Southampton Town Police unit at 3:30 a.m.
The operator of that vehicle, Lisa A . Rizzo, 23, of Cutchogue, was found to be intoxicated. She was placed under arrest for DWI and taken to a local area hospital for treatment of minor injuries sustained in the accident.
County Road 51 was closed from the time of the call until about 7 a.m., as the Southampton Town Police and the New York State Police collision reconstruction unit investigated the accident.
The accident remains under investigation; it is not yet known what caused the operator to lose control of his car, police said.
The crash victim, whose identity is being withheld pending notification of family, was extricated from the vehicle by Riverhead Fire Department, treated on the scene by Flanders-Northampton Ambulance and then flown to Stony Brook University Hospital by Suffolk County Police Medi-Vac, according to the press release.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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