West Islip Firefighters Struck In DWI Hit-And-Run

[huzzie59 75]

W. Islip teen charged in DWI hit-and-run

BY SOPHIA CHANG

sophia.chang@newsday.com

July 19, 2007, 9:37 PM EDT

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 Thursday, 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 Thursday afternoon declined to comment.

The 17-year-old driver, Jillian Lazinsky, of 20 Seabreeze Lane in West Islip, was arraigned Thursday 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."

Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.

[cas2383 22]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery !

[ems731 0]

Get well soon.

I hope the drunk driver gets what she deserves.

[jps385 0]

$10,000 bail for this!! Thats BS this little princess should be spending the rest of summer sweating in suffolk county jail until her trial.

[Guest]

$10,000 bail for this!! Thats BS this little princess should be spending the rest of summer sweating in suffolk county jail until her trial.

agreed

[DOC22 1]

$10,000 bail for this!! Thats BS this little princess should be spending the rest of summer sweating in suffolk county jail until her trial.

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!! May the two Firefighters have a full and speedy recovery.

[RWC130 594]

$10,000? Isn't that the cost of a Steak dinner on Long Island?

Best wishes to the Firefighters, hope they are OK.

[RC2389 0]

I hope the two FFs recover quickly, and I also hope that they take away her license...there is absolutely no reason to be driving drunk.

[DOC22 1]

I hope the two FFs recover quickly, and I also hope that they take away her license...there is absolutely no reason to be driving drunk.

Especially at the tender age of seventeen!!!!! :angry: :angry: :angry:

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Amazing.

Simply amazing.

I am so impressed by the stupidity, and pure ignorance by people these days.

I know the justice system works through "assumed innocent until proven guilty" but I mean, c'mon. To go and plead innocent to such a thing and "be so concerned about the firefighters".

*sniff sniff* I smell something, does anyone else?

Its the ripe old smell of BULLSH!T !!!!

[sr71 1]

i agree whole heartly someone who is my age should not drive drunk, or even drink, but if its a drink you want than you should spend the night there or walk home

[RescueKujo 130]

I am getting so tired of the coddling of people who drive drunk. It takes a conscious decision to drive drunk. You drive to a party by yourself, you drink, then get into your car and drive. Since I believe it to be a conscious decision, It is my opinion that the charge to 2nd degree murder rather than voluntary manslaughter. :angry: :angry:

[xfirefighter484x 234]

i agree whole heartly someone who is my age should not drive drunk, or even drink, but if its a drink you want than you should spend the night there or walk home

I want to expand upon your statement sr71.

I don't think ANYONE should EVER be driving drunk, and a 17 year old should not even be drinking anything at all.

[RANT]We shall just have to wait and see as mommy and daddy's multi-million dollar lawyer get her off with the metaphorical slap on the wrist *cough cough* Paris Hilton *cough*, claiming something along the lines of emotionally disturbed, so she gets to go to "rehab" or some cushy psych center until she is "better" and the gets away with probation or something along those lines.

I don't want to critique any law enforcement officials here, this is not your fault, but I have lost faith in the upper judicial system. When someone who possesses some form/amount/sort of illicit drug, and ends up having a 10 year sentence (just making a number up), yet these rich snobby *censored* get away with murder (literally and figuratively).

[/RANT]