What Happened
Suffolk County Police Department said a 2017 Honda Accord crashed into an Islip Fire Department ambulance on Main Street, just east of 3rd Avenue, in Bay Shore at about 2:15 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 18. The ambulance had its emergency lights on, and crews were loading an injured 26-year-old Islip man into the back.
Police said a second ambulance took the patient to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries. There were no other injuries.
Third Precinct officers determined the Accord’s driver was intoxicated and arrested her at the scene, police said. Edith Cairo, 32, of Islip, was charged with Driving While Intoxicated. She was held overnight at the Third Precinct. A charge is not a conviction.
News 12 Long Island reported that investigators said the crash ejected the stretcher carrying the patient from the ambulance and knocked him into the street. The outlet reported he suffered additional injuries but was not seriously hurt.
In a separate report, News 12 said security video shows the ambulance, with its lights on, blocking part of the street. Matt Esposito, assistant manager at Sweet Jane Cocktail Bar, told News 12 he first went outside after seeing a man slumped over on the sidewalk. He described the scene after the crash: “So we went out, and the car was just completely T-boned, like completely sideways, into the ambulance. And the stretcher that I think the guy was on was knocked over.”
Esposito also told News 12 the Honda’s driver ran into the crowd and appeared to be trying to get away before police located her. That report said Cairo was arraigned Sunday.
What we don’t know yet: what injury or condition the 26-year-old was being treated for before the crash, and what bail, if any, was set at the arraignment.
Sources
- News 12
- Suffolk County Police Department (official record)
- News 12
- Law & Crime