12-05-2025
‘Inexperienced driver' launches Jeep over Long Island pier — and sticks miraculous landing
She should have dropped anchor.
A teen driver accidentally catapulted her car over a pier, miraculously landing face up on a floating dock — reminiscent of a made-for-TV mishap — while barely avoiding plunging into the Long Island Sound.
3 A driver on Long Island plunged her Jeep onto a floating dock in Port Jefferson.
Port Jefferson Fire Department
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The caught-on-camera incident involving a silver 2008 Jeep happened on Mother's Day at Brookhaven Town Marina's parking lot in Port Jefferson at around 6:42 p.m., according to Newsday.
The Jeep lost its front bumper when the 17-year-old driver accidentally accelerated her SUV over a bulkhead and crashed through a guard rail, News12 reported.
The driver's side tire left dangling over the water on the side closest to the wooden dock, while the rear of the car was left tilted up.
The impact also demolished the floating dock's wooden boards at the point where the passenger side headlight initially slammed down on the platform.
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3 The car miraculously landed right side up.
Facebook/Dan Panico
Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico described the driver as 'inexperienced' and said the situation ended 'luckily' compared to other potentially fatal or nightmarish outcomes.
'Every day, I wake up and never know what the day will bring,' he wrote on Facebook of the shocking moment.
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3 Rescue workers safely removed the driver, who had only minor injuries.
Port Jefferson Fire Department
Local firefighters safely removed the woman, who sustained only minor injuries, from the SUV. She was taken to a nearby hospital, according to Port Jefferson's Fire Department.
The vehicle, which has been secured on the dock by several rope lines since Sunday evening, will be removed by a heavy-duty tow truck, officials said.
