Family Raises Questions About Crash That Injured Man, 22

The family of an East Northport man who was seriously injured in a two-car crash Saturday morning is raising questions about several aspects of the collision and police response.

James King, 22, was riding in an Uber about 3 a.m. when it collided with another vehicle at the  intersection of Saratoga Avenue and Elwood Road, police and family said.

King suffered serious injuries, including head trauma, and underwent a 10-hour surgery on his brain and on facial injury repair. As of Wednesday, his cousin, Lindsey Veni, said, he was responding to their voices and squeezing their hands.

The crash and the family’s questions were first reported by Newsday Tuesday, which noted that no press release was issued about the crash. On Wednesday, upon HuntingtonNow’s request, the department confirmed the basic facts to HuntingtonNow and said that the major case squad was investigating.

Newsday’s Grant Parpan wrote that a form given to the family listed detective John McGay as the other driver but the family said later they were told that McGay’s teenaged son was driving.

Veni also said that the family was told that King had been sent to the hospital for treatment but they could not find him for hours, until locating him at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip; she said he was listed under an alias, making it harder to find him. Police, she said, questioned how much King, though a passenger, had had to drink.

She said that the Uber driver, whos name wasn’t known, was also injured.

The family, she said, wants to know if the other driver was Breathalyzed and whether charges have or will be brought against him.

“My cousin deserves some sort of justice,” she said. He is a graduate of St. Anthony’s and works as a security guard in the District Attorney’s Office, she said.