Tractor-Trailer Driver Charged In Drunken Crash On LI Expressway: SCPD

DIX HILLS, NY — A tractor-trailer driver accused of driving while drunk was arrested following a crash in Dix Hills on Monday night, Suffolk police said.

Timothy Murray, 64, of Mastic, was driving a 2016 Freightliner tractor that was pulling a trailer westbound on the Long Island Expressway, when the vehicle left the roadway at the right shoulder, crashed into the guardrail, and came to a stop east of the Exit 50 off ramp, at 7:48 p.m., police said.

Several hundred feet of guardrail and two street lamps came down in the crash, police said. Another vehicle struck debris in the roadway and became disabled, police said.

Two lanes of the westbound Long Island Expressway were closed for over six hours to remove the
vehicles and clear the roadway, including clean-up of motor oil and approximately 50 gallons of spilled diesel fuel, police said.

Suffolk County Motor Carrier Safety Section responded and completed a post-crash inspection and NYDEC Hazmat Spill Response was on scene for the diesel fuel spill, police said.

Murray was charged with driving while intoxicated. He was held overnight in the Third Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday.