Cops: Passenger in Vets Highway crash dies
Two cars collided on Veterans Memorial Highway at Johnson Avenue in Bohemia just before 6 a.m. Sunday. (Oct. 3, 2010) Credit: James Carbone
A Patchogue man severely injured after an unlicensed, intoxicated motorist allegedly rammed into the back of his car, then fled the scene, died Thursday at a hospital in East Patchogue, Suffolk police said.
Kevin Mead, 27, had been a passenger in the backseat of his 2010 Mazda early on Oct. 3, heading to Long Island MacArthur Airport for a trip to Disney World with his girlfriend, Stephanie Collins of Centereach, when the crash occurred.
Collins' father, Alan Collins, who was driving the car, was stopped at a red light at Veterans Memorial Highway and Johnson Avenue in Bohemia when police said Robert Watson, 24, of Nesconset plowed his car into the back of the Mazda.
The crash, at about 5:50 a.m., severely damaged both cars, and police said Watson jumped out of the car and ran from the scene. He was found about an hour and a half later.
Stephanie Collins and her father suffered from shock, but Mead was seriously injured with head and chest trauma.
He was taken to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead Thursday.
Watson has been charged with driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident with an injury, and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. On Thursday, the Suffolk district attorney's office did not immediately have information on any updated charges Watson may face.
