Drunken Driver Crashes Into Car Of Police Officer On Call: PD

WADING RIVER, NY — A police officer was injured while out on a call after his marked car was hit by a man charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.

Kenneth Hamilton, 47, of Wading River, was arrested and charged with DWI, police said.

According to Riverhead Town Police, on Wednesday at 10:34 p.m., a call came in about a vehicle observed off the road on Wading River Manor Road, just north of State Route 25 in Wading River.

Two marked Riverhead cars were dispatched and responded to the area; they determined that the driver of the vehicle had failed to negotiate the roadway due to fog, run off the road, and become disabled on the shoulder, police said.

The police stood by, blocked the roadway, and directed traffic while the vehicle was removed from the shoulder, police said.

One of the officers went back to his marked police car and began running data and preparing paperwork while seated in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, police said.

A short time later, the police car was struck by another vehicle traveling northbound on Wading River Manor Road; the force of the collision pushed the police cruiser off of the roadway and onto the eastern shoulder, with both vehicles sustaining extensive damage, police said.

Other officers on the scene ran toward the crash and found that the officer had been injured during the collision, police said.

Wading River Fire Department Ambulance responded to the scene, treated the officer and transported him to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, where he was admitted for treatment non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Hamilton, the driver of the second vehicle, was not injured in the collision, police said. Officers detected an odor of alcohol and field sobriety tests were performed on Hamilton, who was found to have "noticeable impairment," police said. He was placed under arrest and transported to the Riverhead Police Department where he was processed and held for arraignment, police said.