Minutes after leaving his job as a hospital radiology supervisor, Larry Garwood returned to his Long Island workplace on a stretcher - fatally injured in a wrong-way crash, authorities said.
Garwood, 59, was heading home from St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown early Friday when a northbound vehicle crossed into the southbound lanes of Route 25A and smashed into his car, according to Suffolk County police. The driver of the vehicle, 36-year-old Natalia Simons of Kings Park, was arrested on a drunk driving charge.
"There was so much he wanted to do," Kim Garwood said of her husband. "He'll never walk the street again. He'll never laugh with the family again. He's gone; he's gone."
Simons was treated at a hospital for her injuries, though the extent of them wasn't clear. Both her vehicle and Garwood's vehicle were impounded for safety checks.
Simons was arraigned on the DWI charge Friday afternoon; her attorney apologized to Garwood's family on her behalf and entered a plea of not guilty. She was released on $50,000 bail.
"She's very remorseful for what has happened," said John Lewis Jr., Simons' lawyer. "My client's thoughts and prayers go out to the victim's family. At this point she is just charged with a DWI."
Those charges could be upgraded once the case is presented to a grand jury.
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Prosecutors say Simons told them she had met a friend at around 10 p.m. and had a few glasses of wine and no food. The crash happened shortly after midnight.
