An allegedly drugged-up Long Island driver plowed into a beloved crossing guard Thursday — leaving him clinging to life after emergency surgery, officials said.
Joshua Alvarado, 30, is believed to have been under the influence when he briefly fell asleep at the wheel in Merrick then slammed into an unidentified 70-year-old guard as he was helping children get to school, according to officials.
“He is somebody that went out each and every day with the thought of protecting our young people — protecting the children that are going to and from school,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told reporters Thursday afternoon at the county legislative chamber.
Alvarado, from Rosedale, Queens, was high behind the wheel of his pickup truck when he stopped at a red light on the corner of Merrick Avenue and Sunrise Highway at just after 8 a.m., officials said.
Authorities claim Alvarado was so high on an unknown substance that he fell asleep while waiting for the signal to change before someone behind him honked at him and woke him up.
Alvarado allegedly stepped on the gas and tried to turn but veered out of his lane, then jumped the sidewalk and violently struck the part-time crossing guard, according to officials.
The fully uniformed guard had just safely helped a group of students cross the road, county police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said.
The guard was aided by good Samaritans who stopped to help and immediately rushed the man to Nassau University Medical Center, according to authorities.
Alvarado failed two separate sobriety tests, including one at the scene of the accident, cops said. Police are now awaiting his blood sample results to determine exactly what substance and how much of it he was on at the time of the accident, officials said.
He is now charged with driving while under the influence of drugs, vehicular assault, and assault in the second-degree.
Alvarado is set to be arraigned Friday morning in Nassau County court.
“We have offered to do whatever we can to help him and his family get through this really tough accident,” Blakeman said.
