Drunk Driver Crashed Into Ambulance, Injured Paramedic: NCPD

BALDWIN, NY — A Baldwin man was arrested early Sunday morning after police say he crashed into an ambulance while driving drunk.

According to police, a police department ambulance was heading east on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin a 2:24 a.m., responding to a call with its lights on. Police say Joaquin Cabrera, 57, of Baldwin Avenue, was driving a 2006 Hummer the wrong way — heading east in the westbound lanes — and then cut across the center median near the intersection of Grand Avenue and struck the driver's side of the ambulance. He then fled the scene, police said.

Police soon found Cabrera parked behind an Applebee's on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin. Police say he had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. He was arrested without incident.

The ambulance driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of a dislocated left ulna, a fractured left hand and pain to their neck and back. Cabrera was taken to a hospital for an unrelated illness, police said. There was no passenger in the ambulance at the time of the crash.

Cabrera is charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated, third-degree assault, second-degree reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident and reckless driving. He is scheduled to be arraigned later today.