Police

Mattituck man charged with DWI after truck flips in two-car crash

JAMESPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT COURTESY PHOTO
JAMESPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT COURTESY PHOTO

A Mattituck man has been arrested after he was involved in a two-car accident along Main Road in Jamesport where one of the vehicles flipped over and landed “within inches” of a nearby storefront early Sunday, authorities said. Three people, including the arrested man, were injured in the accident; none were seriously hurt.

JAMESPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT COURTESY PHOTO
JAMESPORT FIRE DEPARTMENT COURTESY PHOTO

Mark Palladini, 50, was traveling east on Main Road in Jamesport about 5:15 a.m. Sunday, when he crashed into a Nissan sedan with two men inside, police said.

Mr. Palladini’s 2006 Toyota pickup truck lost a wheel in the collision and flipped over, landing inches from the Grana pizzeria on Main Road.

“It nicked the building but there was no structural damage, thank God,” said Jamesport fire chief Duffy Griffiths. The pickup truck did take out two potted plants and benches that were in front of the restaurant, fire officials said.

Mr. Palladini’s speech was slurred and his breath smelled like alcohol when police interviewed him at the scene, and his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, authorities said. He refused to take a breath test or field sobriety test at the scene and was arrested.

Mr. Griffiths said fire police closed the road for nearly two hours as the department’s rescue squad winched the flipped truck away from the building.

Riverhead ambulance volunteers took all three crash victims to Peconic Bay Medical Center for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, police said.

Mr. Palladini was arraigned before Justice Allen Smith Sunday afternoon, led into the courtroom wearing a blue t-shirt, jeans and bright yellow socks with no shoes. Mr. Smith suspended Mr. Palladini’s license because he refused to take a breath test.

Mr. Palladini asked if he could get a license to go to work, but Mr. Smith said that would not likely be possible and warned him not to drive.

“If you do, they’re going to pop you with a felony,” Mr. Smith said.

Mr. Palladini was released on his own recognizance, and walked unsteadily out of the courtroom with assistance from a police officer. He is due back in court on Sept. 17.

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