Brookhaven, NY - July 7, 2015 - Suffolk County Police Fifth Squad detectives are investigating a two-vehicle crash that killed a woman and injured several others in Brookhaven tonight.
A woman driving a van carrying eight passengers was traveling westbound on Montauk Highway near Smith Road, when she was struck by a truck traveling eastbound that swerved into her lane at approximately 4:55 p.m. The collision caused the van to flip over.
A passenger in the van, Sandra Leon, 46, of Hempstead, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. The driver of the truck, Gerard Demelfi, 28, of Shirley, and the driver of the van, Nieves Rivera, 37, of Patchogue, along with the other surviving passengers in the van were taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center in East Patchogue, or Stony Brook University Hospital with varying degree of injuries. A young boy was critically injured. All the other injuries were non-life threatening.
The vehicles were impounded for a safety check. The investigation is continuing.