LI Driving Instructor Charged With DWI After Crash: Cops

RIDGE, NY —A driving instructor was charged with DWI after a crash in Ridge Saturday, police said.

According to Suffolk Police, Russell Cohen, 58, of Ridge, was arrested at 11:45 a.m. on Route 25 and Montauk Trail.

Cohen, a driving instructor for the Suffolk Auto Driving School, was instructing four students when they became suspicious he was intoxicated; the students told Cohen they were hungry and convinced him to stop at a McDonald's on Middle Country Road in Centereach at 11 a.m., police said. The students got out of the car and called 911, police said.

When the students didn’t come out, Cohen left — and rear-ended his 2012 Honda Accord into a 2008 Honda Civic driven by a 29-year-old Shoreham woman on Route 25 and Montauk Trail at 11:45 a.m., police said.

She was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead with non-life threatening injuries; Cohen was not injured.

Cohen was charged with aggravated DWI and three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. He will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip at a later date.

Photo provided by Suffolk Police