Police: Multiple boats catch fire after driver crashes into Babylon boatyard; driver charged with DWI

Police and a bystander had to pull the driver from her car after the crash.

Jonathan Gordon

Nov 25, 2024, 10:07 AM

Updated 2 hr ago

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First responders and a bystander had to rescue a West Islip woman from her car Sunday night after Suffolk County police said she drove drunk and the wrong way down multiple roads before crashing into a boatyard in Babylon sparking a massive fire.
Investigators said Lorrie Ibe, 54, was driving a 2021 Kia Forte southbound in the northbound lanes of Route 231 in Babylon around 10 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 24. Police said they received multiple calls about the wrong-way driver.
Police said Ibe crossed over the median along 231 and struck several road signs before driving through the intersection at East Main Street, over the median again and through the fence in front of 270 East Main St. crashing into a boat.
According to officials, that boat caught fire and spread to three other boats.
Ibe was pulled from the car and transported to Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip with nonlife-threatening injuries. She remains hospitalized this morning, according to police.
The Babylon Fire Department was able to put out the fire and no one else was injured.
Police charged Ibe with driving while intoxicated and she will be arraigned at the First District Court in Central Islip at a later date.