Suffolk Police and West Islip rescue personnel work frantically to free passengers in a two car collission on Robert Moses Causway that took the life of a 17-year old St. John the Baptist High School senior. Photo by Al Waters

by Carolyn James

Kyle English, a 17-year-old Copiague resident and student at St. John the Baptist High School in West Islip, died following a tragic automobile accident March 11. The accident took place on the northbound lane of Robert Moses Causeway as English, who was operating his father’s new SUV, attempted to get onto the westbound lane of Sunrise Highway. The 2001 Ford Explorer failed to negotiate the curve, went airborne, crossed the median and landed on another vehicle. The driver of the other car, Roberto Robles, 46 of East Islip was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where he was listed in critical condition, but is expected to fully recover. The West Islip Fire Department received a call for help with heavy rescue shortly before 3 p.m. The first arriving unit, with Lt. Joseph Badala, found a rollover of a sports utility vehicle, and was told five people were trapped within. Upon closer examination, he found two vehicles involved, the Ford Explorer and Robles Toyota Tercel, which was crushed under the Explorer.

As units arrived they were given specific instructions and a call was put out to the Bay Shore Fire Department for a second tool.

The West Islip Fire Department personnel along with the Bay Shore Fire Department personnel and the Suffolk County Police Emergency Services division extracted three trapped occupants of the two vehicles. The Suffolk County Police helicopter arrived on the scene, but the decision was made by the North Shore Paramedics to ground transport the victims to Good Samaritan Hospital, due to the nature of their injuries.

Kyle English

English was transported there and received emergency medical treatment. He was pronounced dead early the next morning, March 12. He never regained consciousness.

Everyone in the accident was wearing a seat belt and no other serious injuries were reported. A 15-year-old girl in English’s vehicle was treated for minor injuries at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. She was later released.

Kyle English was described by his father Kevin, as a "wonderful young man." His son had asked him earlier in the day if he could use the truck and the elder English gave him the keys with a caution: "I told him to drive carefully," said Kevin English.

Kyle’s organs were donated, and his heart now beats in the body of a 57-year-old man, said his father, a Suffolk County Police Detective in the First Precinct.

In addition to his father, Kyle English is survived by his mother Teresa and by his sisters, Veronica, Tara, Lauren and Samantha, and a brother, Sean, all of Copiague. His grandparents, Elizabeth and Lucien Tempera of Copiague, and Margaret English of Massapequa Park also survive him.

Kyle English reposed at the McCourt & Trudden Funeral Home in Farmingdale. A Funeral mass was said Thursday, March 15 at St. Martin of Tours R.C. Church, Amityville. Cremation was at Washington Memorial Park, Coram.