A New York woman was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated after police said she slammed into an ambulance sent to help an injured patient, who was being loaded into the back of the vehicle at the time of the crash.
Edith Cairo’s car collided into an Islip Fire Department ambulance with its emergency lights flashing on Main Street in Bay Shore, Long Island, around 2:15 a.m. on Sunday, October 18, according to Suffolk County police.
A 26-year-old patient from Islip was being placed into the vehicle at the time, police in a news release.
The force from the crash ejected the man’s stretcher from the ambulance, sending him flying off the stretcher and into the street, investigators told News 12 Long Island.
A second ambulance was needed to take the man to the hospital, where he was transported with injuries described as non-life-threatening, police said. The nature of his injuries weren’t specified.
Officers discovered Cairo, 32, of Islip, was intoxicated while driving her 2017 Honda Accord that struck the first ambulance, according to police. She was arrested at the scene.
Cairo was detained at the Third Precinct in Suffolk County and held until her arraignment later on Sunday, police said.
Cairo has been charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated driving while intoxicated, and a third offense in connection with the crash involving an emergency vehicle, court records viewed by Us show.
When someone is charged with an aggravated DWI in New York, they’re accused of driving with a blood alcohol content of at least .18 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit under state law.
A defendant convicted of an aggravated DWI would face a mandatory fine between $1,000 and $2,500 and up to one year in jail, according to the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.
Court records indicate Cairo pleaded not guilty to all the charges and that her license was suspended, pending her prosecution, court records show.
The records didn’t list whether she had retained legal counsel the afternoon of Monday, October 19.
