Babylon Man Charged With DWI After Teenage Girl Dies In Crash
LINDENHURST, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A 31-year-old Babylon man has been charged with driving while intoxicated in connection with a two-car crash that left a recent high school graduate dead.
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Michael Grasing was driving westbound on Montauk Highway when he rear-ended the victim's car, causing it to overturn and strike a utility pole around 10:25 p.m. Sunday, Suffolk County police said.
"It kept flipping over, maybe like a dozen times," Billy Petropoulis, the owner of a sports bar that one of the cars crashed into, said.
The driver of the rear-ended vehicle, identified as Brittney Walsh, 18, of Lindenhurst, was thrown from the car and killed, CBS 2's Carolyn Gusoff reported.
Walsh, who had just graduated from Copiague High School on Friday, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Her father, Tom Walsh, said the driver has to pay the consequences.
"He made a big mistake," he said. "Everybody has a couple of drinks here and there but you have to understand that you're not supposed to drive."
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"It's gut-wrenching, it turns your stomach," Lindenhurst resident Douglas Munker said. "It's sad, it's horrible."
Grasing was treated for minor injuries at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip. He has been arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
It is unclear when he will be arraigned.
Both vehicles have been impounded for safety checks, police said.
The investigation is ongoing.
In Southampton early Monday, a 41-year-old man, identified as Christopher Dean, was charged with drunken driving after police said he struck and killed a pedestrian. The victim's identity has not been released.
