Cops: Cutchogue woman crashed into police car
A Cutchogue woman crashed into an unoccupied Southampton Town police car early Saturday morning on a closed roadway in Manorville as police and firefighters were responding to a single-car accident that seriously injured a Manorville man, Southampton Town police said.
Lisa A. Rizzo, 23, was arrested for driving while intoxicated and she was taken to a local hospital for minor injuries after crashing into the police car at 3:30 a.m. on County Road 51, police said.
Police said Ms. Rizzo drove a 2005 Honda Civic past a flared road closure and a police officer directing traffic before colliding with the police car in the northbound lane. County Road 51 remained closed until about 7 a.m., police said.
The initial accident occurred at about 1:47 a.m. when a 38-year-old man lost control of his 2005 Toyota Prius while driving southbound on County Road 51, south of Speonk Riverhead Road. He sideswiped the guardrail along the southbound lane, crossed over the median and the northbound lane before crashing into a tree on the northbound shoulder. The vehicle was found laying on its side with its roof crushed in leaning against a tree, police said.
The Riverhead Fire Department extricated the man from the vehicle and he was treated on scene by Flanders-Northampton Ambulance volunteers before being flown via Medevac to Stony Brook University Medical Center. His identification was witheld pending notification of family, police said.
The crash remains under investigation, police said. The car in the initial crash was impounded for further investigation and the two cars in the second crash sustained significant damage and required two tow trucks to remove them from the scene, police said.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact Southampton Police at 631-728-5000, the detective division at 631-702-2230 or the crime hotline at 631-728-3454. All calls will be kept confidential.
