Man charged after motorcyclist killed in DUI crash

Man charged after motorcyclist killed in DUI crash

Sabelo Ndala mugshot from SCPD

A motorcyclist was killed on Saturday afternoon when a young man who was allegedly on drugs crashed a car into his bike.

Two days after Thanksgiving, the Suffolk County Police Department said, 56-year-old Thomas Heissen Buttel was riding a 1972 Harley-Davidson north on Old Town Road when he was struck by a vehicle whose driver had been trying to make a left onto Hyson Way in Coram, just south of Hawkins Road.

The motorcyclist, a South Setauket resident, died from his injuries at Stony Brook University Hospital, police said, while the driver of the 2010 Volkswagen Jetta that struck him, 22-year-old Port Jefferson Station resident Sabelo Ndala, was not hurt.

Police charged Ndala with driving while impaired by drugs, operating a vehicle without an interlock device and second-degree aggravated unlicensed driving. He was arraigned the next day.

The suspect is listed as defending himself in the New York State court system’s online database and could not be reached for comment.

According to the database, Ndala had a previous drunk driving charge against him, dating back to February, to which he pleaded guilty. His license was revoked for 18 months in that case and he was mandated to use an interlock device on his vehicle, which prevents the car from operating unless a sober person breathes into the device, for three years.

After Saturday’s crash, police impounded both the Jetta and the Harley-Davidson for safety checks.

Anyone who may have witnessed the crash is asked to call detectives from the SCPD’s Vehicular Crime Unit at 631-852-6555.

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