A car crashed through the front of Dark Horse Restaurant on the corner of East Main Street and Peconic Avenue late last night.
The vehicle, a Maserati, penetrated the front facade on East Main Street, just east of the intersection at about 11:15 p.m., according to Dark Horse manager Ross Cummings.
The driver of the vehicle, Mark Szynaka, 61, of Riverhead was arrested on a DWI charge, Riverhead Town Police said this morning.
The restaurant was closed at the time of the crash. Cummings said he was the last one to leave the premises about 45 minutes earlier. He was relaxing with friends at Craft’d, up the street, when someone came in and asked if he was okay.
“I ran out of there and ran back to the restaurant,” Cummings said.
The hood and front wheels of the Maserati were inside the building when the car came to a stop after the crash.
The driver was already out of the car when Cummings arrived, Cummings said. He was apparently uninjured, he said, and was being interviewed by police.
“There are columns on either side of the vehicle. He was lucky he missed both of them,” Cummings said. “He crashed so hard into the building that the back of the vehicle bounced back and its rear bumper took out the light pole,” he said.
The Riverhead fire marshal’s office responded to inspect the building, Cummings said. A contractor sent by the building’s insurance company worked through the night to secure the restaurant.
Cummings said this morning he and owner Dee Muma were at the restaurant all night cleaning up the mess.
“There was glass all over the place,” he said.
Dark Horse will reopen as soon as possible, Cummings said. “I’m aiming for dinner service tonight,” he said.
The timing of reopening will depend on clearance from the fire marshal concerning structural integrity.
Szynaka, the driver of the vehicle, was processed at Riverhead Police Department headquarters and held for arraignment, police said.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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