Officer In Police Vehicle Injured In Sunrise Highway Crash: Cops

WEST BABYLON, NY — A police officer is injured, after a woman drove her vehicle while intoxicated into a marked police car, forcing it to crash into a wall on Friday night on Sunrise Highway, Suffolk County police said.

Bridgette Acaiturri, 37, of Lindenhurst, was charged with driving while intoxicated, police said.

At about 9:25 p.m., a highway patrol vehicle, with flashing lights activated, was traveling westbound on Sunrise Highway, west of Exit 40 near West Babylon, when a westbound 2006 Ford Expedition crashed into it from behind, police said.

The patrol vehicle had been providing a safe perimeter for a slow moving construction
vehicle at the time.

The impact of the crash caused the police car to spin around before striking the center median wall, police said. The officer in the vehicle was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Acaiturri, was taken to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip for treatment of minor injuries, police said.

She will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip at a later date.