Sheriff Kevin Walsh calls Clifton Reynolds "a menace on the highway."
Clifton Reynolds, the man charged with driving into the Pier 57 restaurant Wednesday, is now accused of causing a crash the next day that injured another driver.Lysander, NY – A Lysander man was airlifted to Upstate University Hospital after the man responsible for crashing into the Pier 57 Restaurant on Wednesday collided with his car on Thursday, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office said.
Richard Zimmerman, 23, of 8744 Cramer Road, Lysander, was flown to the hospital on the sheriff’s Air-1 helicopter and was in serious condition with multiple injuries early this morning, deputies said. His condition was not available at 6:30 a.m.
The other driver, Clifton Reynolds, 35, of 8406 Gaskin Road, Clay, was in fair condition this morning at the same hospital, a nursing supervisor said.
Deputies said witnesses told them that Reynolds was driving a 2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer at a high speed at the 8400 block of River Road, Lysander, shortly before 9 p.m. His southbound SUV crossed the center line into the northbound lane and collided head-on with Zimmerman’s 2008 Chevrolet Impala, deputies said. Rescue workers had to pull both men from the wreckage, deputies said.
The accident occurred less than 31 hours after a Nissan Pathfinder that Reynolds was driving struck another vehicle, rolled about 100 yards and crashed into the entrance of Pier 57 on Route 57, Liverpool. Reynolds was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated with drugs and several other counts after that accident and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“I don’t know if this guy has a death wish, but he’s a menace on the highway,” Sheriff Kevin Walsh said after Thursday’s crash.
Alcohol did not appear to be a factor in the River Road accident, he said.
Deputies said they will charge Reynolds with second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, imprudent speed, and failure to keep right in the River Road accident.