100-mph Sunrise Highway crash leads to drug-impaired driving charges for Shirley man

Mario Auer was behind the wheel of a BMW that flipped in Bayport in April, ejecting him and his passenger

Two months after a high-speed crash on Sunrise Highway left him and his passenger seriously hurt, a Shirley man was hit Monday with drug-impaired driving and reckless endangerment charges Monday, police said.

Mario Auer, 25, was arrested at Suffolk Police’s Fifth Precinct in Patchogue and charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs, second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving and speeding.

Investigators determined Auer was driving more than 100 mph immediately before the 1:10 p.m. crash on April 28, police said.

In the wreck, Auer lost control of a 2022 BMW he was driving east on Sunrise Highway just west of Nicolls Road in Bayport. The vehicle struck the center median and overturned, ejecting both Auer and his passenger, Caitlyn Rose Lovelock, 28, of Mastic Beach.

Lovelock was taken to NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk in Patchogue with minor injuries. Auer was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

The crash closed the eastbound lanes and slowed traffic for hours on the highway between Bohemia and the west end of Patchogue

The BMW was impounded for a safety check. Police did not specify Monday what substance is alleged to have impaired Auer at the time of the wreck. He was scheduled to be arraigned Monday at First District Court.