John Callas, of Centereach, killed in 1-car crash in Manorville, police say

A Centereach man was killed Saturday night after he swerved off a Manorville road and struck a boulder, Suffolk County police said.

John Callas, 64, was driving north in a 2011 Ford van on Schultz Road, between Wading River Manor Road and North Street, about 10:10 p.m., when he crashed, the police department wrote in a news release. Callas was brought to Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, where he was pronounced dead.

The cause of the crash and the driver’s speed are being investigated, the police press office wrote in an email.

Callas’ death comes less than 48 hours after at least two other traffic fatalities reported by the Suffolk police: a Deer Park man killed Friday in Dix Hills after he veered into the opposite lane of traffic and crashed head-on into a tractor trailer; and also Friday, a woman struck and killed by a driver while the woman crossed a road in St. James. 

Nationwide, single-vehicle crashes represent 53% of motor vehicle crash deaths, according to the most recently available statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. In New York State, that figure is 59%.

In 2024, 1,021 people were killed in traffic crashes in New York, 167 of whom on Long Island — 105 in Suffolk and 62 in Nassau, according to preliminary statistics from the University at Albany-based Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.