Scouts hit by suspected drunk driver, 5 hospitalized

Thomas Murphy, 59, is charged with impaired driving and having five wounded in a group of Scouts.
(Suffolk County Police)

An intoxicated man passed through a group of Scouts walking Sunday on a Long Island road, police said, sending five scouts to the hospital, including one in critical condition.

Members of Troop 161 were walking on David Terry Road's shoulder in Manorville on Sunday, when 59-year-old Thomas Murphy, driving a white 2016 Mercedes, hit the group, said Suffolk County police.

The severity of the injuries was not immediately obvious. Police said four of the scouts – one in critical condition – had been taken to the Peconic Bay Medical Center, while the fifth boy had been transferred by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital.

The scouts – ages 12 to 16 – were part of a larger group of a dozen experts walking with adults, Manorville resident Sean Bryan told Newsday who called 911.

"I saw them from the start when I drove, they were easy to see, in my opinion," he told the newspaper. "They were walking in the street as you should if you want to do it, to traffic, to oncoming traffic."

Manorville fire chief assistant Chris Lindberg told Newsday that the other soldiers had been taken to the fire station "so that parents would not have to go to the scene of the accident to to get them back".

Murphy, of Holbrook, has been charged with driving while intoxicated and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.