A drunken driver crashed his minivan into a guardrail while driving the wrong way on the Long Island Expressway in Woodbury, claiming the life of his passenger early Monday morning, Nassau County police said.
Juan J. Cruz of Deer Park was driving his Chrysler Town and Country westbound in the eastbound HOV lane between exits 44, Route 135, and exit 45, Manetto Hill Road, when the crash occurred at 4:45 a.m., police said.
The victim, 28-year-old Mauricio Visoso-Ornelas of Queens, was pronounced dead less than an hour later at Nassau University Medical Center.
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Homicide Squad detectives charged the 27-year-old driver with driving while intoxicated, vehicular manslaughter and manslaughter. Cruz will be arraigned Tuesday at First District Court in Hempstead.
