Riverhead Woman Dies After DWI Crash On Sunrise Highway: Police

RIVERHEAD, NY — A female passenger in a car struck by a man charged with driving while intoxicated on Sept. 8 has died, police said.

According to Suffolk County Police, Lisa Hynds, 42, of Riverhead, was a passenger in a Toyota that was struck by a Jeep Liberty being driven by Daniel Lazzaro, 37, of Centereach on eastbound Sunrise Highway.

Police arrested Lazzaro and charged him with DWI following the crash that killed Miguel Berdecia, 46, of Central Islip and critically injured Hynds in Sayville, police said.

Berdecia was driving a 2011 Toyota Yaris eastbound on Sunrise Highway near Exit 50 when the vehicle struck the center median, followed by the guardrail of the right lane, before becoming disabled sideways and facing north in the center lane at 12:25 a.m., police said.

Hynds exited the Toyota, which was then struck on the driver’s side by an eastbound 2011 Jeep Liberty driven by Lazzaro, police said. The impact of the crash caused the Toyota to strike Hynds, police said.

Berdecia was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician's assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner; Hynds was initially airlifted by Suffolk County Police aviation to Stony Brook University Hospital in critical condition, police said.

Lazzaro was transported to Long Island Community Hospital in East Patchogue for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.