An alleged drunk driver slammed into another vehicle twice on Long Island in a shocking scene that was captured on dash cam video. And now members of the family who posted the dash cam video say they feared for their lives.
An alleged drunk driver slammed into another vehicle twice on Long Island in a shocking scene that was captured on dash cam video. And now members of the family who posted the dash cam video say they feared for their lives.
Linda Spina, 53, of Selden, was driving drunk along Woodside Avenue in Patchogue around 4:30 p.m. Thursday when she made a wide right turn onto North Ocean Avenue, police said. Dash cam video of the turn shows Spina's Honda accelerate over a curb before knocking over a sign and crashing into a car stopped at a traffic light.
In the video, a woman who appears to be an off-duty emergency responder asks the family in the struck car if they're alright. She then yells at Spina several times: "Put your car in park!"
Spina then drives in reverse out of the dash cam's sight. But she appears seconds later, accelerating and nearly hitting the emergency responder before smashing head-on into the car for a second time.
NBC New York spoke with the family in the car, including the mother of the children heard screaming in the video. She said her whole life flashed before her like in the movies and that she thought for a second they would all die. Her husband was on the phone with her at the time and thought he had lost them.
The family installed the dash cam after a minor accident last year in which they couldn't prove the other driver was at fault.
Spina was charged with driving while intoxicated. She was taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center following the accident and was arraigned Friday in Central Islip.
