Two dead in Southern State Parkway crash in Islip, police say

Two people are dead in a one-car crash on the Southern State Parkway in Islip, according to State Police.

Trooper Daniel Ahlgrim, a State Police spokesman, said in an interview that the crash, about 10:20 a.m., involved one vehicle near Exit 41A of the parkway's westbound lanes.

"There's two people deceased and two people injured," he said.

One of the people killed was the driver, Ahlgrim said. 

All lanes of the parkway reopened around 2:20 p.m. according to State Police. The westbound parkway had been closed at Exit 41A, police said earlier, and Ahlgrim said at the time that traffic was being diverted onto the Sagtikos Parkway.

A resident on Fallon Road in Bay Shore whose backyard abuts the wooded area along the parkway near Exit 41N said the merge where the crash happened was dangerous.

"I hear accidents all the time," the man said. "I'm surprised I didn't hear this one."

Additional details on the crash victims weren't immediately available.

With Deborah S. Morris and Antonio Planas

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

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