Robert Hommel of Mastic in critical condition after Sunrise Highway crash, say cops

A driver speeding on Sunrise Highway crashed into an overpass in East Patchogue Tuesday and was ejected through his car's open sunroof, Suffolk County police said.

Robert Hommel, 29, of Mastic, drove an Audi past a marked police car, then hit a guardrail and a concrete column on the westbound Hospital Road overpass at 2:20 p.m. police said.

Hommel, the sole occupant of the car, was taken with life-threatening injuries to nearby Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center, police said.

The westbound lanes were shut down by Exit 54 after the crash and reopened just after 9 p.m., police said.

"This was a severe accident, which resulted in severe injuries," said Gregory C. Miglino Jr., chief of the South Country Ambulance Company, which took the driver to the hospital.

A helicopter had been called to airlift Hommel to Stony Brook University Hospital, but Miglino said he instead directed the victim be taken to the closer hospital, which was minutes away, because of his condition.

At the crash site, the Audi could be seen with its front end crumpled. Highway police officials were at the scene, along with Fifth Precinct detectives.

The vehicle was impounded for a safety check.

Other details were not immediately available.

Police ask anyone with information to call the vehicular crime unit at 631-852-6555.