Police say that just minutes before Marvin Cardona-Lopez slammed his 1995 Ford Explorer head-on into a tree removal company truck on Montauk Highway near the Canoe Place Road intersection, he sideswiped a sedan near .
It was originally unclear if Lopez, who has since been charged with DWI, was involved in the accident near Edgewater.
Police said witnesses reported that a Ford Explorer, driving erratically westbound on Montauk Highway Friday, attempted to pass the sedan but lost control of his SUV and sideswiped the car. Police said he then left the scene, continuing down the road.
The driver of the sedan, a 33-year-old from Hampton Bays, was taken to for non-life-threatening injuries.
Then at around 7:45 p.m, Cardona-Lopez hit the tree removal company truck, which was traveling in the eastbound lane of Montauk Highway.
The front-ends of both cars were completely crushed. The driver of the tree removal truck, a 25-year-old from Hampton Bays, and his two passengers, a 6-year-old and a 32-year-old, were taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. A fourth passenger of the truck, a 31-year-old Hampton bays woman, sustained serious physical injury and she was taken to Stony Brook via helicopter, police said.
Police said Cardona-Lopez's passenger, a 28-year-old man, was also taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center.
Cardona-Lopez has been charged with DWI, failure to use designated lane and with being an unlicensed operator of a motor vehicle.
