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A boozed-up driver jumped the center median of a Long Island highway and torpedoed into oncoming traffic — killing an elderly couple and injuring 10 others, officials said Monday.
Alleged drunk driver Diana Kutateladze, 36, was zooming westbound on the Southern State Parkway in her Cadillac Escalade at just after 10 p.m. Sunday when she sideswiped a vehicle in the left lane, barreled over the center median but kept driving straight into oncoming traffic, New York State Police said in a statement.
She plowed directly into one car — with occupants Donald Maxwell, 82, and Liscent Maxell, 88, dying on impact, according to authorities.
Six cars and 10 drivers were caught in the carnage, which took place just west of exit 17S in Malverne. Several drivers and passengers were taken to the hospital with one person still listed in critical condition Monday afternoon, state police said.
Kutateladze, of Oceanside, was arrested and charged with a laundry list of offenses, including aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of vehicular manslaughter, second-degree assault, DWI and reckless driving.
The alleged drunk driver also had an unnamed passenger in her car at the time of the crash — it was not immediately clear if that person was among those hospitalized.
Following the tragic crash, the parkway was shut down between exits 15 and 17 for over seven hours after the crash, police revealed.
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