Police provide details in weekend crash that severely injured James King of East Northport

Suffolk police have released new information about a crash that critically injured an East Northport man early Saturday morning and left his family seeking clarity from police as to who was driving one of the cars involved.

James King, 22, was seriously injured while he was a passenger in a 2012 Mazda that was involved in a crash with a 2019 Honda driven by Ryan McGay, 17, at the intersection of Elwood Road and Saratoga Avenue at 12:03 a.m. Oct. 12, police said in an email to Newsday.

McGay is the son of a Suffolk Police detective.

Also injured in the crash was a 16-year-old female passenger in McGay’s vehicle and Cheng Liu, 59, the driver of the Mazda, police said. King’s family members said Liu is a ride-share driver who was transporting King at the time of the crash.

Police previously declined to release to Newsday the names of those involved in the crash, which they said is being investigated by the department’s Major Case Unit. The unit is a specialized squad of detectives within the Major Crimes Bureau, according to the department's 2024 organizational chart. 

King’s family said they learned of the crash after a Suffolk police officer knocked on the door of the family's home and left a police Accident Information Exchange Form with a family member. That officer identified Ryan McGay as the driver, despite the form listing his father, Suffolk police detective John McGay, as the operator, said King’s sister, Amanda Smith.

The officer and later a detective told King’s family members that Ryan McGay drove through a stop sign before striking the vehicle King was a passenger in, Smith said.

No charges have been filed related in the crash.

Attorney Jonathan Manley, of Hauppauge, who declined to comment on behalf of John McGay earlier this week, could not be immediately reached Thursday.

King, who works as a security guard with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, was airlifted Wednesday from Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Smith said. The move was necessary for King, who doctors fear may lose vision in one of his eyes, to be more easily treated by retina and eye specialists, she added.

King suffered a traumatic brain injury which required surgery for more than nine hours Saturday, family members said.

"He’s still not out of the woods, but it’s looking like he’s heading in the right direction," Smith said. "Right now we’re really just concentrating on James. It’s been a lot."

Smith said her family wants to better understand what happened, adding that they haven’t received an update from police in several days.

"We just want an investigation," she said. "A regular old investigation."

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.