UPDATE: Police ID Motorcyclist Seriously Hurt in Long Island Expressway Crash

Police have identified a motorcyclist who was seriously injured after crashing into a barrier wall on the Long Island Expressway Wednesday afternoon in Hauppauge.

According to police, 56-year-old Charles Clayton, of Mastic, was riding a 2008 Honda motorcycle east on the LIE in heavy traffic when he lost control of his motorcycle at about 4:10 p.m. between exits 56 and 57. The motorcycle crashed into the HOV barrier wall and Clayton was thrown off the vehicle into the roadway, police said.

Clayton was transported via Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he is being treated for multiple serious injuries, police said.

The motorcycle was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing, police said.

Detectives are asking anyone with information about the crash, which closed the eastbound LIE at Exit 56–Route 111 for more than two hours during the evening commute, to contact the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.

Traffic was also snarled because of an accident that occurred about 15 minutes earlier when a Suffolk County Police highway officer in a marked police vehicle rear-ended another vehicle in the left lane of the eastbound LIE near the exit ramp of Exit 56, police said.

The male officer and the male driver of the other vehicle were transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with minor injuries, police said.