Police say a man has been arrested for driving while
intoxicated following a motor vehicle crash that killed a man and critically
injured a woman in Sayville early Wednesday morning.
The crash happened on the eastbound Sunrise Highway near exit
50 when the vehicle struck the center median, followed by the guardrail of the
right lane, before becoming disabled.
"The vehicle then skidded across the eastbound lanes,
striking a second guardrail on the shoulder side,” says Detective Lt. Scott
Welshimer. “The vehicle then came to rest in the center lane sideways."
Authorities say Lisa Hynds, 42, of Riverhead, exited the
vehicle, which was then struck in the driver’s side by an eastbound Jeep. The
impact of the crash caused the car to hit the Hynds.
The driver of the car, Miguel Berdecia, 46, of Central Islip,
was pronounced dead at the scene. Hynds was airlifted by Suffolk County Police
helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition.
The driver of the Jeep, Daniel Lazzaro, was transported to
the hospital for injuries.
Detectives charged Lazzaro, 37, of Centereach, with DWI.
Lazzaro plead not guilty and is being held on $200,000 bail.
Prosecutors say Lazzaro did poorly on a field sobriety test
but then refused a blood test. A warrant was then issued for one, but
those results are pending.
The 37-year-old's attorney, Timothy Mattimore, says his
client was on his way home at the time of the crash, but he says he didn't know
where Lazzaro was coming from or if he had been drinking.
“He hit a car where it shouldn't have been,” says the
attorney.
Mattimore tells News 12 the family is working on a bail
package so he can be released. When it comes to the outcome, Mattimore says
he’s “disappointed but it's understandable in a fatality situation.”
News 12 is told Lazzaro has entered a not guilty
plea in response to his charges.
The eastbound side of Sunrise Highway has since reopened in
Sayville.