By Sophia Chang
Newsday
Copyright 2007 Newsday, Inc.
WEST ISLIP, N.Y. — Two West Islip volunteer firefighters were in critical but stable condition after an intoxicated high schooler struck them with her Honda Accord just a block away from the firehouse early yesterday, then drove several blocks before police arrested her, authorities said.
Thomas Devlin, 19, and Joseph Ortiz, 18, who are both college students volunteering with the West Islip Fire Department, were taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip with head trauma and other injuries, said West Islip Fire Department Chief Mike Delgado.
Grim-faced relatives and friends who gathered in the hospital lobby after the two underwent surgery yesterday afternoon declined to comment.
The 17-year-old driver, Jillian Lazinsky, of 20 Seabreeze Lane in West Islip, was arraigned yesterday in front of First District Court Judge Paul Hensley on charges of driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, authorities said. She pleaded not guilty and posted $10,000 cash bail, according to her lawyer, David Besso of Bay Shore.
Lazinsky, who will be a senior at West Islip High School this fall, submitted a blood test at the Third Precinct after her arrest, and the results are pending, Besso said. He added, “she’s very concerned for the health and welfare of the firefighters.”
On Wednesday night, Ortiz and Devlin were at the West Islip firehouse for mandatory training until 10 p.m., Delgado said. They then started their overnight shifts as part of the EMS duty crew, where responders are on call 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Delgado said many of the volunteer firefighters on EMS duty typically wait at the firehouse during much of the shift, as Ortiz and Devlin did that night.
Three hours into their shift, the two and another volunteer firefighter, Alyssa Saenz of West Islip, decided to make a snack run to the convenience store around the corner from the firehouse on Union Boulevard, Delgado said.
“Around 1 a.m., they were talking about going to get Slurpees at the 7-Eleven,” he said. Police said Lazinsky struck Devlin and Ortiz as they crossed Higbie Lane near Union Boulevard, and she left without stopping.
Saenz, who walked behind Ortiz and Devlin when they crossed the street and was not hit by the car, notified two nearby Suffolk police detectives about the incident, authorities said. Police arrested Lazinsky several blocks away on Udalia Road. Her next court date is Tuesday in Central Islip.
Delgado said Ortiz and Devlin were close friends. “We’re all hurting right now,” he said. “The fire service is one big family and it’s two of our own.”