A 31-year-old Lynbrook man is facing driving-while-intoxicated and hit-and-run charges after New York State Police say he drove the wrong way on Interstate 84 in East Fishkill, crossed into oncoming traffic and slammed head-on into another car before fleeing the scene. The crash left a 66-year-old Pleasant Valley man with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to Newport Dispatch, troopers responded to a two-vehicle personal-injury collision on westbound I-84 near mile marker 42.4 at approximately 4:51 p.m. Sunday. Police allege that Oscar E. Barahona had been driving a 2007 Honda eastbound on I-84 when he entered the westbound lanes, swerved across all lanes of travel and struck a 2025 Toyota head-on.
The Toyota was being driven by John Rota, a 66-year-old Pleasant Valley resident, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the collision, the outlet's report states. Rota was transported to St. Luke's Hospital for evaluation following the crash.
Wrong-way crashes remain uncommon but can be especially severe. A national analysis of fatal crashes on divided highways counted 4,164 wrong-way crashes and 5,730 deaths from 2014 through 2023; the annual number of crashes rose from 278 to 520 over that period. The analysis also found alcohol impairment was among the factors associated with greater risk of a fatal wrong-way crash, though it does not establish what caused any individual incident. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s 2026 analysis examined federal fatal-crash data.
Driver Fled, Then Was Found Nearby
Barahona fled the collision scene but was located shortly afterward, per the same account. Once troopers made contact, he reportedly exhibited signs of intoxication and was given standardized field sobriety tests before being taken into custody.
Before he was taken into custody, Barahona refused medical attention. He was then transported to SP East Fishkill for processing and submitted to a chemical breath test. That test yielded a blood alcohol concentration of 0.13 percent, the Newport Dispatch report notes — well above the 0.08 percent legal threshold in New York.
New York law sets the per-se DWI threshold at a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent, while aggravated DWI begins at 0.18 percent. The reported 0.13 percent result is above the standard DWI threshold but below the aggravated-DWI threshold; the charges remain allegations, not findings of guilt. The state’s Vehicle and Traffic Law defines both BAC thresholds and separately prohibits driving while intoxicated.
Multiple Misdemeanor Charges Filed
Barahona was charged with driving while intoxicated, operating a motor vehicle with 0.08 percent or more alcohol in his blood, reckless endangerment, and leaving the scene of a personal-injury accident in the first degree — the latter two both classified as class A misdemeanors, according to the report. He also faces additional New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law violations tied to the crash.
The leaving-the-scene charge carries a specific legal test: prosecutors must prove the driver knew or had cause to know someone was injured, then left without stopping and providing required identifying and insurance information or reporting the incident when no officer was nearby. New York classifies a first violation involving personal injury as a class A misdemeanor. The state courts’ jury instructions set out those elements; the charge itself does not establish that they have been proven.
He was issued an appearance ticket returnable to Town of Fishkill Court on October 22 at 9 a.m. Following processing, Barahona was turned over to the Town of Newburgh Police Department, the article notes.
The circumstances that led Barahona onto the wrong side of the interstate remain part of the case as it heads toward its October court date. No further details on his legal representation or how he plans to answer the charges have been made public.
