Cops: Impaired motorist plows into police cruiser at accident scene, injuring officer

A Riverhead police officer working at the scene of a motor vehicle accident in Wading River late last night was injured when a vehicle operated by an impaired driver crashed into his police vehicle, police said in a press release early this morning.

Two marked police units responded to a call of a possible accident on Wading River Manorville Road, just north of Route 25 at about 10:35 p.m. Police found a vehicle that had failed to negotiate the roadway due to fog, had left the roadway and become disabled on the shoulder of the road, according to the release.

The officers blocked the roadway with their marked police units and directed traffic, standing by while the vehicle was removed from the shoulder, police said. One of the officers went back to his marked unit and, seated in the front passenger seat of his vehicle, began running data and preparing paperwork, police said.

A short time later, the marked police unit was struck by another vehicle traveling northbound on Wading River Manorville Road, police said. The force of the collision pushed the police cruiser off of the roadway and onto the eastern shoulder, with both vehicles sustaining extensive damage, police said.

The officer was injured in the crash and transported by Wading River Fire Department rescue to Peconic Bay Medical Center, police said. He was admitted for treatment of injuries police said were not life-threatening.

The driver of the vehicle that crashed into the police cruiser, Kenneth Hamilton, 47, of Wading River, who was not injured in the crash, was placed under arrest on a charge of Driving While Intoxicated, police said. He was taken to Riverhead Police headquarters for processing and held for morning arraignment, according to the report.

Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.