A Long Island mother is expected to be charged in connection with a horrific wrong-way crash that killed her 9-year-old son and injured several others early Thursday, authorities said.
The Centerport woman, 32, whose name has not been released, was allegedly behind the wheel of a 2022 Mitsubishi SUV that was seen traveling in the wrong direction on the Southern State Parkway near Exit 42 in Islip around 2:15 a.m., authorities said at a press conference.
The driver ignored a Suffolk County deputy sheriff’s attempt to pull them over and sped up just moments before the terrifying four-car collision, Major Stephen J. Udice of the New York State Police said.
The motor vehicle crash took the life of a 9-year-old. Paul Mazza
She was given a field sobriety test at the scene, though authorities declined to release the results. Charges against her are still pending.
The driver is also believed to have been spotted traveling in the wrong direction on Sunrise Highway – five miles from the crash site – before the horrific accident, Udice said.
“It was a very severe collision. It was a head-on collision. The damage to the vehicles was extensive,” he told reporters.
“The damage to the vehicles was extensive,” Major Stephen J. Udice of the New York State Police said. John Keating / Newsday
The force of the collision was so intense that the engine of the wrong-way vehicle was thrown “some distance” into the woods by the crash site, he added.
The 9-year-old boy was removed from the back seat of the SUV by the deputy sheriff and a New York state trooper.
The two responders administered first aid – including CPR – to the boy at the scene before he was taken to the hospital, where he later died.
The incident, which occurred near Exit 42 in Bay Shore, occurred around 2:30 a.m. Paul Mazza
“This was a traumatic event for all those involved,” Suffolk County Deputy Undersheriff John Beck said.
The deputy sheriff “will have the image of this young boy’s face forever etched in his memory,” Beck added.
In addition to the young boy, the driver of the wrong-way vehicle and the motorists in two of the other cars sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the authorities confirmed.
The boy’s mother is currently receiving medical care at Good Samaritan Hospital.
The state police declined to name the woman or her son pending family notification.
