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What Happened
A three-person injury crash on Veterans Memorial Highway in Smithtown at approximately 6:15 a.m. Thursday left one man seriously hurt and sent all three occupants to the hospital, according to a press release from the Suffolk County Police Department.
Robert Schugman was driving a 2010 Honda Odyssey westbound on Veterans Memorial Highway when his vehicle struck a 2013 Dodge Caravan operated by Laurence Ackerman at the intersection of County Center Road. Police did not specify the direction Ackerman was traveling at the time of the collision.
A 65-year-old Amityville resident was riding as a passenger in the Caravan. They sustained serious injuries and were transported to Stony Brook University Hospital, per the Suffolk County Police Department press release. The two drivers were also injured; police have not released their ages, hometowns, or the hospitals that received them.
Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are leading the investigation. The crash occurred during the morning commute window, with the intersection of Veterans Memorial Highway and County Center Road still active with early-hour traffic at the time of impact.
Location & Road Context
Veterans Memorial Highway is a major east-west arterial through central Suffolk County, running through Hauppauge and into Smithtown. The County Center Road intersection sits near the H. Lee Dennison Building complex, a high-traffic government and office corridor that draws significant morning commute volume by 6 a.m.
Smithtown has seen multiple serious crashes in the September 17 period alone. A separate incident that day involved one person extracted and one person in critical condition following a crash outside a Smithtown police station, and a second major Smithtown two-car crash also left one person seriously injured the same morning. Suffolk County’s local incident database holds 989 recorded accidents, giving the county one of the highest crash-volume records on Long Island.
Investigation & Legal Proceedings
Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating the circumstances of the collision, including which vehicle had right-of-way at the County Center Road intersection. No charges have been announced and no arrests have been made as of the Suffolk County Police Department’s initial press release. Police have not confirmed whether speed, signal violation, or driver impairment is under examination.
Broader Impact
The seriously injured passenger’s transport to Stony Brook University Hospital placed them at the region’s only Level 1 Trauma Center for adults in Suffolk County, the appropriate destination for serious multi-system trauma from a broadside or intersection collision. Stony Brook is roughly four miles from the crash site on Veterans Memorial Highway, a straight shot east on the same road.