Police: Salisbury woman drove wrong way on LIE

A Salisbury woman was arrested for DWI and reckless endangerment after she allegedly drove the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway early Tuesday morning and crashed into an oncoming vehicle, according to Nassau County police.

Police said the defendant, Katelyn A. O’Connell, 22, was in custody at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola on Tuesday.

The second driver, a 27-year-old man from Glendale, was taken to North Shore University Hospital for evaluations. Neither party suffered life-threatening injuries, police said.

According to detectives, shortly after 5 a.m., a call came in reporting that a car was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes on the Long Island Expressway in the vicinity of Exit 35 near Shelter Rock Road in North Hills. At that location, police said, two vehicles collided head on, causing one to spin.

Police did not immediately provide further details of the incident and said the investigation is continuing.

According to authorities, she was also charged with second-degree Assault.  

O’Connell was arraigned in the hospital on Wednesday. 

All eastbound lanes of the LIE were closed until about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

People named in Crime Watch items as having been arrested and charged with violations or crimes are only suspected of committing those acts of which they are accused. They are all presumed to be innocent of those charges until and unless found guilty in a court of law.