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.
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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 the Suffolk Marine Center at 270 East Main St. crashing into a boat.
“There are crashes," one passerby said. "Everyone is going somewhere fast. It happens a lot. People hitting the curb mostly and down that way. Everyone is in a rush to get around.”
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.
“It’s just money and boats these things can be replaced," Islip resident Olin Bechtel said. "Human life can’t and it’s unfortunate that something like this happened.”
Police charged Ibe with driving while intoxicated and she will be arraigned at the First District Court in Central Islip at a later date.
