The speeding CEO of a Manhattan security-systems firm smashed his luxury Land Rover into a Lexus while trying to pass it on a two-lane highway in East Hampton, police said Sunday
Robert Shiver, 54, who police said had an open alcohol container in the Land Rover, lost the front driver’s-side wheel of the car in the wreck, which happened Saturday at 2:50 p.m. on Route 27.
The two occupants of the Lexus, which had a New Jersey license plate, had to be cut from their vehicle.
They were in the hospital and expected to survive. Cops would not provide additional information about them.
Shiver, the head honcho of Aerwav Integration Services, was arrested at the scene and charged with speeding and illegal passing.
Cops said a Breathalyzer test showed his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit of .08, but Shiver was not charged with DWI pending blood tests, the results of which are expected today.
The CEO was arraigned in East Hampton Town Justice Court Sunday and released on $500 bail.
He told Judge Catherine Cahill he had taken two Ambien sleeping pills and they were responsible for his behavior.
Shiver’s car came to rest facing west in the eastbound lane of the busy stretch, snarling traffic for miles.
The stretch, on Route 27 near Stephen Hands Path, is known among residents as a place where several fatal accidents have occurred.
The driver’s-side door was pulled off to extricate the passengers. Both were taken to Southampton Hospital by ambulance.
Shiver was treated for minor injuries at the hospital and then taken into custody and held overnight.
He is due back in court on Thursday.
Shiver’s firm provides security systems that range from fire alarms to closed-circuit TV systems. It also provides systems that keep data secure.
A Yahoo! company profile says Aerway filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005. It could not be learned whether the firm emerged from Chapter 11.
Ambien, whose sedative effects are increased by alcohol, has been blamed for such bizarre behavior as sleep driving.
After Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) crashed his Ford Mustang convertible into a barricade in Washington on May 4, 2006, he claimed he was disoriented from taking Ambien.
Additional reporting by Kavita Mokha