A pedestrian was killed on Nesconset Highway on Wednesday night while trying to cross the busy roadway.
The Suffolk County Police Department said the man was crossing from the median to the north side of Route 347 at the intersection with Browns Road in Nesconset at the time of the crash. A 2000 Jeep Cherokee, which had been going west on the road, crashed into the pedestrian shortly after 9 p.m.
Police did not identify the man, who was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Hospital, pending notification of his family.
The Jeep’s driver, a 23-year-old Bay Shore man, was not hurt, police said. That vehicle was impounded for a safety check.
Children practice pedestrian safety. Photo by Giselle Barkley
The Town of Brookhaven’s Highway Department in conjunction with the Suffolk County Sheriffs Office STOPPED program is bringing the rodeo to Safety Town on Saturday, April 9, the first of three bike rodeos to be held this year at the Holtsville Ecology Site.
Children of all ages across the Island can bring their bikes and test their bike riding skills and safety knowledge in Safety Town’s kid-sized roadways and obstacles. Attendees can also participate in bike and helmet inspections and helmet fittings during the three-hour event.
According to the Town of Brookhaven’s website, the miniature village was modeled after Nassau County’s Safety Town at Eisenhower Park.
“It’s really a great program where the kids can come and learn on real equipment, while not having to be on an actual roadway,” said Brookhaven Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro (R). “It’s a completely controlled environment with traffic signals, crosswalks, [and] a railway crossing. It really has everything that you would encounter in a [real] roadway.”
According to Losquadro, the department doesn’t limit the number of kids who can participate in this event. While most families stay for a half hour or so, the department will separate the kids into groups if a large number of children attend. The groups will rotate between the Safety Town roadways and a course designed in front of the Safety Town building.
Children practice traffic safety in Safety Town’s small cars. Photo by Giselle Barkley
According to Traffic Safety Director Jon Sullivan, the department held its first bike rodeo around 2007 in the Brookhaven Town Hall parking lot in Farmingville. The event was moved to Safety Town after it was established in 2009.
Since it was moved to its new venue, Sullivan and Losquadro noticed that kids have a better time remembering the safety rules they learned during the rodeo or through Safety Town’s many programs. The programs cover pedestrian safety, traffic safety and bike safety among other topics. Sullivan added that the mock town and rodeo really resonate with these students.
“Kids will go home [and] they’ll be explaining [the program] to their parents,” Sullivan said. “The parents would then be calling us up saying ‘when can we bring them back?’”
Sullivan and Losquadro alike remembered their experience learning about road safety in their school gymnasium. At the time, some schools used small scooters and cones to help teach students. But Losquadro said learning these same rules at Safety Town is more effective.
“It’s just a very different hands-on experience and being in a physical environment like this, with … real traffic signals, real lane markings [and] not just things on a gymnasium floor … it’s much more impactful to the student,” the highway superintendent said.
Parents can watch their kids learn the rules of the road when it comes to riding bikes, on Saturday, April 9, between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Safety Town at the Holtsville Ecology Site located at 249 Buckley Road in Holtsville.
In the event of rain, the event will be rescheduled to Sunday, April 10. For more information about this year’s bicycle rodeo, call 631-363-3770.
A man attempting to cross Main Street on Saturday night was seriously injured when a Volkswagen struck him.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the pedestrian, 67-year-old Huntington Station resident Matthew McKay, was crossing the street in Huntington at about 9:20 p.m., just west of Nassau Road, when an eastbound Jetta hit him.
McKay was being treated at Huntington Hospital for serious injuries, police said. The 2016 Volkswagen’s driver, a 57-year-old Centerport woman, was not hurt.
Detectives from the 2nd Squad are investigating the incident. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 631-854-8252.
Emergency medical workers rushed on Tuesday to rescue a young man who had been hit by a car just feet from their station.
The Huntington Community First Aid Squad said an “agitated young man” in front of its Huntington Station headquarters got the attention of the on-duty dispatcher at about 3:45 p.m. and pointed to the nearby intersection of Railroad Street and Lowndes Avenue. Several members at that point could see another person lying motionless in the street, and the squad dispatched an ambulance and a first-responder vehicle to the intersection.
The crew found an unconscious and unresponsive male around 18 years old who had been hit by a vehicle while trying to cross the street, the HCFAS said in a statement. “The crew members quickly immobilized the victim and performed a trauma examination.”
After being moved to the ambulance, the victim regained consciousness, the HCFAS said, and could communicate with the EMTs. According to the squad, he had possibly suffered a head injury.
The victim was transported to Huntington Hospital.
A new sidewalk runs along Highlands Boulevard in upper Port Jefferson. Photo by Elana Glowatz
They blazed the path and now they’re going to light the way.
With a new sidewalk already paved along Highlands Boulevard, keeping pedestrians out of the road, Port Jefferson officials are now working on installing streetlights on the route.
A new sidewalk runs along Highlands Boulevard in upper Port Jefferson. Photo by Elana Glowatz
The village board of trustees on Monday approved spending $28,000 for Flushing-based Welsbach Electric Corp. to put in eight decorative streetlight poles and light fixtures along the winding sidewalk, between the entrance to the Highlands condominiums and Oakland Avenue in uptown Port Jefferson.
That dollar figure is higher than an original $17,000 cost approved in August. Mayor Margot Garant explained at Monday’s board meeting that the village needs more lighting than initially expected.
“We had originally contemplated putting three Dickens lanterns in,” she told the trustees, referring to the antique-style streetlights the village uses. But the “village lanterns are not known for their best illumination. So if we were to light [it] properly, it would need one Dickens lantern every 50 feet.”
However, the bumped-up expense, which will come out of the village’s surplus if the public works department budget cannot cover it, does not represent the entire lighting cost for the stretch of sidewalk. That price tag would have been “more than we have in the budget,” Trustee Larry LaPointe said.
Instead the village will put in the eight streetlights, 150 feet apart, according to Garant. “Just to give it some light at this point in time, and then we can fill in as we continue to go.”
The streetlights will use LED bulbs.
The new roughly 0.2-mile sidewalk on Highlands Boulevard has been in the works for a while, with the idea first coming up a few years ago, when residents coordinated an effort to petition the government to preserve the village-owned grassy area along the road. It was discussed as a safety issue because pedestrians had to walk in the street to get from the condos to the uptown business district.
Board members approved a parkland designation for the 6-acre grassy parcel earlier this year, a move that limits the land’s future use or development. Village officials have discussed the possibility of adding benches or walking paths there, but have expressed a desire to keep the park’s use passive.
A Rocky Point woman was killed on Saturday evening after walking into the road, according to police.
The Suffolk County Police Department said a 2000 Chrysler Voyager hit 49-year-old Theresa Swedberg when the pedestrian walked into the car’s travel lane, as it was going north on Hallock Landing Road near 3rd Avenue.
Swedberg was pronounced dead at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, police said, while the driver, a 21-year-old Miller Place resident, was not hurt in the crash.
Police impounded the Chrysler for a safety check.
Detectives from the SCPD’s 7th Squad are investigating the collision. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 631-852-8752.
A child was critically hurt while crossing the street on Saturday morning.
The Suffolk County Police Department said an 11-year-old girl was walking across Main Street in Kings Park at 11 a.m. that day when a van struck her. That van had been heading east and had just passed Thompson Street at the time of the crash.
The girl was in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital, police said, while the van’s driver, a 52-year-old Freeport man, was not injured.
Police impounded the van for a safety check and detectives from the 4th Squad are investigating the crash.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call them at 631-854-8452.
Update, Oct. 12, 1 p.m.: Police have identified the pedestrian killed on Oct. 7 as 27-year-old Rocky Point resident Alejandro Chamale Cubule.
A pedestrian was killed in Rocky Point late Wednesday while attempting to cross a busy road in the dark.
The Suffolk County Police Department said the victim was trying to cross Route 25A just east of Rocky Point Road when he was hit by a 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe. That car had been driving east on Route 25A.
The driver, a 27-year-old Rocky Point resident, stayed at the scene of the crash, which occurred just after 11:30 p.m., police said.
Police did not immediately identify the deceased, pending notification of his family.
The Hyundai was impounded for a safety check.
Detectives from the SCPD’s 7th Squad are investigating the crash. Anyone who may have witnessed it is asked to call them at631-852-8752.
A pedestrian is in critical condition after a car struck him in the middle of the day in Coram and then fled the scene.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the victim, 57-year-old Gary Williams, was walking on the shoulder of Mill Road’s northbound side at 11 a.m. Wednesday when the sedan, which was heading north, hit him.
Detectives are searching for a newer model of a dark-colored, four-door sedan, with damage to both the windshield and the passenger side view mirror, police said.
Williams, a Coram resident, was in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital.
Vehicular Crime Unit detectives are investigating the hit-and-run. Anyone with information is asked to call them at 631-852-6555 or to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-220-TIPS.
A pedestrian was seriously hurt on Saturday night as he tried to cross New York Avenue in Huntington Station.
The Suffolk County Police Department said 20-year-old Antonio Molina was hit by a Jeep on the road, just north of East 18th Street, shortly before 11 p.m. and is now in serious condition at Stony Brook University Hospital.
The 2002 Jeep had been driving north on New York Avenue at the time of the crash, police said, and its 26-year-old driver was not hurt.
Both the pedestrian and the driver are Huntington Station residents.
Police impounded the Jeep for a safety check.
Detectives from the SCPD’s 2nd Squad are investigating the crash. Anyone with information is asked the call them at 631-854-8252.
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