Update: Cops Say Wrong-Way Driver Caused Three-Car Crash, Arrested on DWI Charge
Update, 10:45 a.m.: The man who drove the wrong way on County Road 105, causing a crash Friday night that left a mother and teenage daughter seriously injured, has been arrested on drunken driving charges, Southampton Town police said.
Edgar Juarez-Velasquez, a 28-year-old Flanders resident, drove a 2004 Ford sport utility vehicle north in the southbound lane on Route 105, causing a head-on collision with two vehicles, near Indian Island, police said.
First, he crashed into a 2009 Honda sedan driven by Yanilsa Munoz, 49, of East Hampton, according to police. Munoz and her female juvenile passenger — identified by others on the scene as her 14-year-old daughter — were trapped inside the vehicle. Juarez-Velasquez then struck a third vehicle, a 2017 Toyota sport utility vehicle, head-on.
Munoz and her daughter were airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious injuries, police said. The driver of the Toyota SUV, Juan Caal, a 31-year-old Flanders resident, was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
Juarez-Velasquez was transported to Peconic Bay Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. He was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated.
The Southampton Town police detective division is continuing the investigation and is asking anyone with information or who witnessed the crash to call 631-702-2230.
New York State police assisted Southampton detectives in conducting the accident reconstruction.
Originally: Detectives are investigating a three-car crash involving a wrong-way driver in Flanders that sent four people to the hospital, two with serious injuries, Friday night.
A driver allegedly heading north in the southbound lane on Route 105, near the Indian Island golf course, caused the head-on crash at about 9:20 p.m. One of the vehicles burst into flames. The first police officer to arrive on scene pulled the driver out of the burning car, saving his life, according to Bill Wilkinson, the chief of the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
The Riverhead Fire Department’s heavy rescue team had to extricate at least one person from one of the vehicles, while firefighters doused the flames.
Two occupants from another car were a mother and 14-year-old daughter, Wilkinson said. After being treated by crews from the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the Flanders Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Corps, they were airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, the closest level-one trauma center. Two Suffolk County medevac helicopters landed on the lawn at the Flanders Community Center.
Additional crews from Riverhead and Flanders transported two other patients to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead.
As of Saturday morning, Riverhead Town police had not yet released details on the crash.Southampton Town police and State troopers also responded.
Route 105, which is also known as Cross River Drive, was closed between Flanders Road and Riverside Drive, for several hours overnight as police took measurements for accident reconstruction.
Check back for more information when it becomes available.
This article has been updated since it was first published at 8:29 a.m.
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