Police

Update: Driver in Northville Turnpike crash arrested for unlicensed driving

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Three people were hospitalized Wednesday morning after a crash at the corner of Northville Turnpike and Oliver Street.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Three people were hospitalized Wednesday morning after a crash at the corner of Northville Turnpike and Oliver Street.

Update: A Riverhead man has been charged with unlicensed driving after Wednesday morning’s car crash that sent a sedan through the foundation of a Northville Turnpike home, police said.

Robert Russo, 23, was arrested after he was treated for minor injuries and charged with aggravated unlicensed driving, a misdemeanor. He was arraigned in Riverhead Town Justice Court Wednesday afternoon and released on his own recognizance.

Original story: Three people were hospitalized after a car careened off Northville Turnpike Wednesday morning, going airborne after hitting a berm and crashing into the side of a home.

A Volkswagon Jetta driving south on Northville Turnpike shortly before 10 a.m. flew off the road and into the side of the home, cracking the foundation and shattering windows in the process.

PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Riverhead Fire Marshal David Andruskiewicz said the building didn't sustain major structural damage.
PAUL SQUIRE PHOTO | Riverhead Fire Marshal David Andruskiewicz said the building didn’t sustain major structural damage.

“It sounded like a big truck, like a Mack truck, flipped over in the yard,” said one witness who asked not to be named. “I looked out and saw a big cloud of smoke.”

Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps chief Joey Oliver said two men in the car — the driver and passenger — were hospitalized and one more woman sitting inside the home suffered minor injuries after the “force of the impact threw her.”

One of the men in the car suffered head lacerations, according to police.

Both RVAC and Flanders-Northampton Volunteer Ambulance Company responded to the scene. Police said they are investigating the cause of the crash.

Riverhead Fire Marshal David Andruskiewicz said the building suffered damage to the crawlspace wall, but no major structural damage.

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