Cops: Motorcyclist killed in Calverton crash with SUV

A motorcyclist was killed in a crash Saturday evening in Calverton after he struck an SUV as the driver turned into the opposite lanes of traffic, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

The motorcyclist, Yener Can, 39, of Medford, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a department news release Saturday.

The driver of the 2010 Honda CR-V, William Alberto Rodriguez-Campos, 24, was not injured.

Neither Rodriguez-Campos's nor Can’s family could be immediately reached for comment.

The crash happened about 7:35 p.m. as Rodriguez-Campos was turning into the northbound lanes of County Road 24 from the off-ramp of the eastbound Long Island Expressway at Exit 71, the release said.

Can was heading south on County Road 24 when he struck the SUV, the release said.

“The motorcyclist drove into the front driver’s side of the Honda. There were no tickets or summonses issued, and no criminality," the police press office wrote in an emailed response to questions.

There were 688 motorcycle crashes on Long Island in 2022 — 369 in Suffolk and 319 in Nassau, according to preliminary statistics maintained by University at Albany-based Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research. Of the 688 crashes, 32 were fatal — 19 in Suffolk and 13 in Nassau — and in 72% of the crashes there were physical injuries.

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.