A woman is dead and a child is injured following a crash on the Meadowbrook Parkway early Sunday morning.

Police say a 2012 Nissan Rogue rear-ended a 2006 Kia just after midnight north of exit M7. The Kia went off the road and slammed into a tree.

The driver of that vehicle, 39-year-old Lissette Quintanilla of South Hempstead, was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead. Police say her 8-year-old son was hospitalized with injures not considered to be life-threatening.

The driver of the Nissan, 26-year-old Freeport resident Nicole Pollock, was arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter, vehicular assault and DWI. Pollock was also hospitalized. It is not clear when she will be arraigned on the charges she faces.

Anti-DWI advocate Marge Lee from the group DEDICATEDD says the horrific crash is one more example of how drunk driving can destroy lives in a matter of seconds.

"Did this person get up and intend to kill? Probably not. But that's no consolation," said Lee. "It's before you get behind the wheel that you stop to think about what you can do."

The police investigation shut down the northbound lanes for eight hours along the Meadowbrook between Babylon Turnpike and the Southern State Parkway. All lanes have since reopened.