Cops: Driver on drugs hits school bus, cars in Huntington Station

BY CHRISTINE ARMARIO AND DEBORAH S. MORRIS | christine.armario@newsday.com and deborah.morris@newsday.com

10:56 PM EDT, May 15, 2008

The driver of this vehicle was badly injured in Thursday's incident involving another driver police say was on drugs. (Photo by James Carbone)

A man who hit a car and a school bus at a busy Huntington Station intersection Thursday, then fled, was nabbed at home and charged with driving while high on drugs, Suffolk police said.

One man was seriously injured in the collision at Pidgeon Hill Road and Longwood Drive around 2:50 p.m., police said. None of the seven children on the bus were hurt.

Police said Jonathon Flower, 30, of 5 Luyster St., Huntington Station, was arrested at his home and charged with driving his 2004 Dodge pickup truck while under the influence of drugs, leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated unlicensed operation of a vehicle, police said. He was taken to an area hospital.

"He was injured and semi-conscious when we found him," said Det. Sgt. Bruce Markgraf of Suffolk's Second Squad. Flower was scheduled to appear at First District Court in Central Islip for arraignment Friday.

Witnesses told police they saw a Dodge move south erratically at a high rate of speed on Pidgeon Hill Road and crash into a Saturn sedan. The sedan hit a sport utility vehicle making a left on Longwood Drive. Flower then ran into a mailbox and pole, turned right onto Wolf Hill Road and hit the bus before driving away, police said.

The Saturn driver, Sean Cronin, 48, of Huntington, is being treated for serious injuries at Huntington Hospital, police said.

The SUV driver, Schertman Nikolis, 52, of Huntington Station, said she was on her way home from a haircut when she was hit. "I was a little shaken when it happened, but I'm OK," she said. "I'm sorry about the guy who was badly injured."

A witness supplied information that led to Flower's arrest, Markgraf said.

Some residents said that part of Pidgeon Hill Road is the site of frequent collisions.

Domenick Propati, 21, said he was watching television when he heard a boom , then sirens.

"I came out and saw the accident and said, 'Here we go again,' " he said. In the past six years, he said he's been hit in his car four times while turning onto Pidgeon Hill Road.

"It's a death trap," he said. "They really need to take care of this."

Staff writer Laura Rivera contributed to this story.