Riverhead police officer injured on call by suspected impaired driver

A Riverhead Town police officer was injured after an impaired driver crashed into his police vehicle at the scene of a motor vehicle accident in Wading River late Wednesday night, police said in a press release.

Two police units responded to the scene of the crash on Wading River Manor Road just north of Route 25 Wednesday at 10:34 p.m. and found a vehicle disabled on the shoulder after the driver failed to negotiate the roadway due to foggy conditions.

As one officer blocked the roadway and began directing traffic, another officer returned to his vehicle to prepare paperwork. While sitting in the front passenger seat of his unit, the officer was struck by a vehicle heading north on Wading River Manor Road.

Officials said the force of the collision caused “extensive damage” to both vehicles and pushed the police cruiser off of the roadway onto the eastern shoulder.

The officer, who was not identified by police, was transported by Wading River Fire Department Ambulance to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, where he was admitted for non-life threatening injuries, police said.

The other driver, identified as 47-year-old Kenneth Hamilton of Wading River, was not injured in the crash but found to have “noticeable impairment” and arrested for driving while intoxicated, according to the release.