Cover photo: D.A. Tierney in Hauppauge (Credit – Matt Meduri)
The Office of the Suffolk County District Attorney is tasked with not only being the county’s top prosecutor, but also investigating crimes of a broad scope.
One of the top issues facing Suffolk residents is vehicular crimes, a seemingly simple set of offenses that have become more bureaucratic and complex in the modern age.
County officials have taken steps to assert their level of home rule in preventing vehicular crimes, but many opine that the State is the party dragging their feet.
The Messenger sat down with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney (R) to see how Suffolk is doing as far as vehicular crimes go, what might be contributing to the problems, and what tools he and other prosecutors would need to better safeguard residents from these types of crimes.
The Statistics
“The statistics in general are troubling, but they’re actually lower [overall],” Tierney told The Messenger. “Since 2020, we’ve had a decrease since less people were on the roads during the pandemic. It takes a while for the stats to catch up. We’re basically plateaued, but it’s still bad. It’s not getting worse, but it’s still bad.”
Fatal hit-and-run accidents peaked at 17 in 2023, up from 16 the year prior. In 2024, 9 fatal hit-and-runs were recorded. So far for 2025, 5 such accidents have been recorded. Serious Physical Injuries (SPIs) from hit-and-runs, however, are higher and are on the general uptick. 2022 saw 16 SPIs, followed by 15 in 2023. However, 2024 saw a peak of 20, with 10 recorded so far this year.
Traffic fatalities peaked at 164 in 2022, up from 153 in 2021, and slightly higher than the 158 reported in 2023. The 2024 data stems from internal data, with the actual number likely higher; 116 traffic fatalities were recorded last year. For 2025, 47 have been recorded.
Crashes with criminalities that resulted in SPIs logged 30 for 2023, 48 for last year, and 28 thus far for 2025.
The Causes
While a set cause is difficult to pinpoint, D.A. Tierney says there are multiple factors at play.
“The biggest factor is distracted and impaired driving. The legalization of marijuana, obviously, is going to negatively impact that number,” said Tierney.
Moreover, the current era of synthetic drugs is taking the law enforcement and prosecutorial worlds by storm. What used to be a slate of commonplace, often naturally-sourced drugs, is now an ever-expanding laundry list of substances of which a chemist can alter just one molecule and a new drug is created.
Tierney says that these new drugs are just as deadly as their molecular counterparts, and with the myriad of drugs “constantly” coming in, prosecutors and analysts are overwhelmed.
“A lot of our illicit narcotics are being created in labs in Mexico and then being brought into our country,” said Tierney. “Raw materials are being made in China. They’re getting smuggled in from all over through our mail system.”
Tierney says that domestic labs aren’t a “persistent problem”, although they’re not absent from the equation. Predominantly, however, the substances are being brought into Suffolk, “besieging” the county, in Tierney’s words.
The Remedies
Tierney, like many officials and affected community members, lament the State’s failure to pass the Deadly Driving Bill this past session, which would institute several remedies that have long harangued prosecutors.
“We have to use the laws that are available to us. I think technology has helped because there’s much more video out there,” said Tierney. “Cars are becoming more sophisticated, so the proper software and investigative tools can be used to get the downloads from cars. That helps in cases of criminality as much as does in cases where there is no criminality.”
Tierney says the distinction is important, as traffic fatalities might not be a result of distracted and/or impaired driving.
“While it might be a tragic result, [we can find] that the person operating the vehicle was doing so in a reasonably prudent manner,” said Tierney. “Going the speed limit, not switching lanes erratically, not all over the road. Technology is helping us with our prosecution.”
However, the largest obstacle is the Public Health Law List, particularly Article 3306, a slate that establishes five schedules of controlled substances in New York. The schedules categorize the substances based on their potential for abuse and accepted medical use. However, the list is notorious for its archaic composition and inflexibility in the age of synthetic opioids.
“That list was created back in the day when our legal drug culture was relatively unsophisticated. Basically, all drugs that were out there were pharmaceuticals that you got from a company or were grown in the ground,” said Tierney. Such substances include cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or oxycodone.
“Now what we have is lab-created drugs that are often coming from outside the country. You have fentanyl, carfentanil, and xylazine,” said Tierney. “You can change one carbon molecule on a drug and it’s no longer that drug. It’s something else.”
The massive problem with the Public Health Law List: if a driver is found to be impaired, but the intoxicating substance is not on that list, the driver cannot face drug or drug-related charges.
“That creates a host of problems, the first being if they create criminal liability in an accident. We can’t charge them with driving while drugged,” said Tierney. “In the case of an addict, if a person is highly addicted to a substance and they’re pulled over and that substance is not on the list, they can’t even be arrested. We can’t get them help. We can’t take steps to suspend their license. We can’t mandate that they go to treatment or try to get them to seek treatment. It’s a big problem; we need to move past this list.”
A notable example is xylazine, which Tierney says was not even realized to have been in the communities until later. The only reason for the lag is that xylazine was not illegal, so drug tests were not finding it. While testing has improved, xylazine remains legal.
Tierney laments that New York “used to be a leader in public safety”, but that the Empire State no longer holds that distinction.
“All of our sister states are recognizing reality and are coming off this archaic list. We’re still at the old place.”
Tierney posits that the legal definition of what constitutes a “dangerous narcotic drug” could be a remedy. With this fix, the chemical composition of a substance would not have to fit a predetermined list; rather, whether or not the substance is a deadly narcotic.
“Is the driver’s ability impaired for any reason? If so, that person should be able to be prosecuted,” said Tierney.
Tierney also says that it’s practically impossible to know just how many drivers are impaired on unidentifiable substances, since the testing capabilities just aren’t there.
“If we had a more progressive statute, we wouldn’t have to rely on that,” said Tierney.
Community Concerns
With any issue that could cause harm to practically anyone, Tierney says that an “all hands on deck” approach is the best mentality.
“Not only do you have the prosecutorial arm, you also have the psychological services and the substance abuse services. A big part is the community awareness and education, especially with our young people,” said Tierney. “We talk about choices and consequences, distracted driving, driving using your phone; how a momentary lapse in judgement can create lasting ramifications not only for the driver but for their possible victims.”
Tierney thinks that the education system is “falling down” as far as informing kids on just how dangerous and deadly drugs can be.
“There’s this thought that you can smoke marijuana, drive in an improved manner, and that there are no ramifications. If you’re going to operate a deadly machine, you have to do it in a prudent manner,” said Tierney.
As the D.A., Tierney says that it “matters not” to him if marijuana is legal or illegal, but that the State did a “very poor job” regarding their advocacy around the substance.
“The State is managing the illicit marijuana trade about as well as they’re managing everything else,” said Tierney, adding that two milligrams of fentanyl – the weight of a mosquito – is a fatal dose.
The recency of Suffolk’s town opting into the State’s legalized marijuana rollout has, according to the D.A., given residents the wrong impression.
“The communities who opted in were told that it was going to be highly regulated, that there would be zoning, it was going to be enforced. What we basically have is a free-for-all. If you operate an otherwise legal dispensary outside of zoning, it’s just a zoning violation.”
Tierney says that such offenses are handled through the State Office of Cannabis Management, but that he’s seen no prosecutions from them. County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) has “taken it upon himself” to work with the towns and enforce those zoning regulations.
Some of those illegally operating dispensaries were found to have been selling controlled substances, after search warrants were executed.
The isolation from the COVID-19 Pandemic also did those with mental health and/or substance abuse issues no favors, Tierney says.
“We’re still trying to dig out from all that,” said Tierney.
Tierney also takes issue with how the schools are discussing these topics with children, adding that he thinks the schools did a “really good job” while his children were in school.
“I don’t see the same [now], whether it’s from schools or communities.”
Conclusion
The D.A.’s office continues to use its resources to fight the scourge of deadly drugs and distracted and erratic driving, but with a few easy tools from the State, the job could be much easier.
The office has partnered with several organizations, such as the Andrew McMorris Foundation, Mothers Against Drug Driving (MADD), and the SCPD’s Street Takeover Task Force. It continues to advocate for responsible driving and for plans if one should become intoxicated, such as through the schools and various PSAs.
