A father and his two young sons were hurt when an out-of-control pickup truck plowed into them and five parked cars at Robert Moses State Park on Long Island, in a chaotic scene as families were heading back to their vehicles after a day at the beach. Police have arrested the driver, and they say the outcome could have been far worse than it was.
The crash happened at Field 2 at around 8:15 on Thursday night. Police say a Dodge Ram pickup truck went out of control and struck three people, including two children, along with five parked cars in the lot. One of the damaged vehicles was an SUV, and the parking area had been especially busy in recent days because of the stretch of nice summer weather drawing crowds to the shore.
Police arrested the alleged driver, identified as 20-year-old Lorenzo Attrigliano of Lake Grove. According to authorities, Attrigliano claimed that the brake on the truck had gotten stuck. He has been charged with several offenses, including reckless driving and reckless endangerment, and the pickup truck was impounded so that it could be inspected as part of the investigation.
The father and his two sons were all taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police say the harm to the children could have been much worse if the father had not acted quickly, jumping in to pull his young sons out of the path of the truck as it barreled through the parking lot in a matter of seconds during the busy evening.
Investigators pointed in particular to the father's youngest child, a two-year-old, saying the situation could have turned out far more serious. Officers described the father as heroic for getting his two-year-old out of harm's way at a second's notice, a split-second reaction that they credited with helping to prevent an even graver outcome at the scene.
Police say there were multiple witnesses to the crash at the popular state park beach, and the suspected driver is due in court on August 21st. People who use the lot said it is the last place a driver should be moving fast, noting that beachgoers are constantly walking out from between the parked cars with their children and their belongings.