Parents Speak Out After 3 Deer Park Teens Struck By Car During Scavenger Hunt

August 9, 2011 10:30 PM

(credit: Handout/Suffolk County PD)

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Cathleen Wild, Deer Park, scavenger hunt

DEER PARK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Police say a Long Island woman who allegedly struck three teenagers on a late-night scavenger hunt over the weekend was driving with a suspended license.

Cathleen Wild was arrested Monday. She’s also charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs and criminal possession of a hypodermic needle following the crash, which happened at 11:45 p.m. Sunday in Deer Park.

The judge set her bail at $100,000 cash or bond.

One of those teens was 16-year-old P.J. Harrington, who was struck and airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center with lacerated kidneys, brain swelling and broken bones. He was placed into a medically induced coma. The two other teens suffered less severe injuries.

Mary Anne and Paul Harrington were given the bad news on the phone Sunday night.

“I went down to my knees. I was praying that he’s alive for me to see him,” Mary Anne Harrington said.

“I never heard that scream before. I went down the stairs, on her knees in the kitchen, crying, ‘PJ’s been hit by a car,’” Paul Harrington said.

Court papers said police found six empty paper packets with residue of a powdery substance and two hypodermic needles discovered in her underwear.

According to court records, Wild told police the teens jumped into the roadway. The victims’ parents also expressed anger that the suspect had a suspended license and reportedly blamed the students for the crash.

“When she first got out of the car, one kid said she said something like ‘look what you did to my truck,’” Paul Harrington said.

About 30 classmates dropping off flowers and cards at the hospital said the ravages of drugs on Long Island have brought them closer together.

If convicted, what’s the appropriate punishment in this case? Let us know below…

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Henry kuhn

Cathleen has always been a crazy crackhead, she robbed the pharmacy on sunrise in west Babylon, they got her plate an she ratted out her cousin and her friend, she was never charged because she signed statements

wise girl

went to high school with her…she was on drugs in 8th grade! the incident your talking about happened just a few months ago, she bragged about it all over her facebook page which has since been taken down. o yea, she also has a suspended license! you know what’s really sad? so many kids from my high school are defending her actions, saying she’s a ‘poor ole addict’ and needs our help. we had our 10 year reunion on saturday. we’re all 28 now, not 18! guess no one has realized yet that we are responsible for our OWN actions! where were these people ‘supporting’ her before she got behind the wheel of her mom’s car! and why did mom give her the keys anyway?! waste of life

Peter T.

people can play scavenger hunts in their homes or anywhere. Scavenger hunts don’t necessarilly mean that you have to get hit by a car by a woman who is clearly out of her mind and has no business being behind the wheel… It doesnt matter what time the kids are out until or what theyre doing… This lady had no business driving with a suspended license, having drugs in the car as well as needles
Cathleenthedopepheen

She is a known dope head thief deserves to rot in jail
Ed

Another typical woman driver at work…
snowey

Fiftyone years ago this year, three Deer park teenagers were killed walking less than 100 feet from this tragic accident. Grand Blvd was and still is a nightmare if you are a pedistrian. It used to be known as ” blood alley ” Shame on the Town of Babylon

khjk

“Shame on the Town of Babylon” – what a complete idiot.

Robert Saville

Let this be a lesson learned to all those kids that find going on scavenger hunts and that find stealing and destroying public property to be fun! Not one of you mentioned that not only was she breaking laws for her criminal behavior, but they were too! What judgement were those kids using, and they seemed to not be on drugs or alcohol, and their judgement sucked! She is not innocent, don’t take what I am writing the wrong way. She should get what she has coming to her, yet so should the kids and not just community service and a slap on the wrist as often is the case!

Chris Friend

your an idiot, the kids were having fun and they were 10 feet from the house and the idiot swerved and hit them and got out of the car and said “don’t Hate”. 3 wittiness couldn’t believe she drove directly into them. They are a great group of kids and not one of them have been in trouble in there in tire life. They are good students, good athletes and come from good families.

Hatingcathleen

Not all scavenger hunts are about stealing and destroying stuff most are set up the only breaking the law was her.she is a known drug addict,comes from a white trash family who do drugs with her so blaming innocent teenagers on the sidewalk is not right you have the same stupid brain wave as her drug addict ass.

yeah.yougotme

youre kidding right? she drove into them. might i say, i go to school with everyone that was there, PJ is a classmate of mine, hes in my class. But a lesson learned? everyone there that night, as i was not, but these kids are not pot heads, not stupid, they are good students, good people, young adults, and great athletes…. not one of these kids has ever been involved with something they shouldnt have… they have never broken the law. whats wrong with a fun night around town? like you didnt do it when you were our age? come on really now? think about it!
llhekkd

Doesn’t matter what they were doing were you there? So they should get hit. Maybe you should use your energy to deface her. Are you saying she hit them because they were destroying property. Look what they are doing in London, now that is destroying property.
Robert Saville is a Dirtbag

Robert Saville is a dirtbag rot in hell you pig.
Sara

I can’t believe you had the gall to write that on this. I understand that scavenger hunts are not favored by the old folks, but you better shut your trap when you say that those kids had it coming. If we needed to weigh out what’s worse I hope you would say THAT STUPID WOMAN DRIVING ON DRUGS WITH A SUSPENDED LICENSE. I am PJ’s cousin and am appauled by your arrogance. Those kids did not deserve the trauma they’ve been through and PJ’s does not deserve to have broken bones over a game of scavenger hunt. I feel sorry for how stupid you must sound on this website and I feel even more sorry that you exposed yourself where everyone else seems is against you. And, you’re even more stupid for exposing your first and last name on here you idiot. Bravo! bravo…

Jessica

Well said!

Jessica

Clearly my friend, you have lived a terribly boring childhood. I’m guessing you’re probably living a terribly miserable adulthood as well. Not all scavenger hunts involve stealing your narrow minded bafoon.

mike

first a night in jail for the stupid parents who let their 16 year old’s play in the street at 11:30 pm – idiots!!!

Sal

Yes MIke I agree, 16 yr olds are too young 2B pl;aying street games at almost midnite!

Tracy

Sal and mike, just curious…..do you have children??? You sound ignorant!
Sara

Wow you guys both sound really dumb.

llhekkd

If she didn’t hit them she would have hit someone else. Why do people have to always blame innocent people. So it would be different if they were hit at 7 p.m. instead. People just want to take some of the blame of the guilty party because they must feel guilty about something! Too bad these drug/alcohol addicts always escape injury/death. So that gives this druggie the right to hit someone. Maybe if you were out you would have gotten hit. Very ignorant people here. You should feel sorry for the victims they have enough to handle right now, always some assss that has to make a dumb comment. If she did this to me forget about her!

T

Obviously mike must be a crackhead himself!!

LLLL

No you are dumb. She hit them the rotten addict. Too bad she didn’t get injured or just leave the face of the Earth. Would it make you happy, Mike, if they were hit by this person at 7 p.m. is that alright with you? A boy is fighting for his life and you sit here making comments, wouldn’t sit well with me. Say something about her you must be guilty of something also. I can’t believe people side with a person like this.
Jessica

Clearly you were either very sheltered, or just had no friends growing up. You probably still don’t have any. Spending your nights on CBS News, replying to stories that remind you of your long lost pathetic existence.

ctdave

The kids could have jumped out in front of you or me. People get killed every year because they walked out from behind a parked car & WHAM! End of story. It just happend to be this person who should not have been on the road. It’s a terrible situation but is in fact an accident.
One good thing, if she ends up in jail, she is going to make some other woman inmate a fine girlfriend! I can see them now mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sarah

I’m glad you find this a joke and that you wanna slam the drug addict, you pathetic loser

CTdave

The real crime here is that she was a good looking woman at one point. The next thing ya know is the crack ferry comes for your teeth & the face gets all messed up. Pretty soon, she is gobbling hog for $2 to support her habbit.

Sarah

Well I’m glad that your only concern is how hot this criminal was. Shallow..

GoodWater

Laws as a deterrent don’t seem to be working for this person. That’s why we have prisons as our plan B. I’d lose no sleep over her being locked up forever.
Gina

As awful as this incident is, she has only been charged with misdemeanors which at most are punishable by up to a year in jail for each. It seems to me that she will probably end up with some kind of drug treatment program or a minimal amount of jail time or probation. Is it fair to those kids who she struck, no, but that’s the reality. I think these types of situations should be treated with more difficult consequences considering the lives of minors could have been taken due to her stupidity.

Tracy

Its been proven that there is no justice!

joecarbonaro

not for nothing i got a year for driving with a suspended license and didnt even know it was suspended so i understand that part but the drugs and hitting someone is completly differant i would say give her 15 years that way she would be detoxed and get a clear head on her shoulders when she comes out
Rich

Some very nice comments, I’m sure she didn’t do it on purpose. Some community service is all that’s needed. The incident alone is a deterrent for this poor woman.
Lorene

First thing to go while on drugs or alcohol is your good judgement.

Ed

Well put & unfortunately we can never do enough to keep idiots like that from getting behind the wheel.

Joe P.

If all the kids live without any disfigurement or life-long injury, she should do a nice 3 year stretch in prison. Not jail. Prison.
S

She looks like Angelina Jolie w/out any makeup on…
J

Death by lethal injection. If you don’t do it, she’ll do it to herself..
Jamey

The game the three kids were playing was called, “Let’s Get Hit By a Car,” so I guess that means this isn’t really news…

Peter T.

Actually, people can play scavenger hunts in their homes or anywhere. Scavenger hunts don’t necessarilly mean that you have to get hit by a car by a woman who is clearly out of her mind and has no business being behind the wheel… It doesnt matter what time the kids are out until or what theyre doing… This lady had no business driving with a suspended license, having drugs in the car as well as needles

Sal

Pete, as parents we are “supposed” to protect our children and at 16 they are still CHILDREN. It does matter what time they are out b/c BAD things happen to good people from midnite to Dawn. Next time you read an article about a shooting, a stabbing, a Gang death, find the TIME in the article, see if it DOESN’T fall between Midnite and 5sm. As parenst we shoiuld have our kids close by Home after dark, know where they are, whith who, doing what!!!
Peter T.

Ok Sal im only 15 and i go to Deer Park High School. Im not saying that everyones perfect but when you were young did u ever stay out late and have fun with your friends in the summer? .. You need to realize that no matter what time of day it is, that lady had NO business driving whether it 11am or 11pm .. you cant have your kids locked up in your house all day.. All I am saying there are two sides to every story and the side you should be taking is the kids because that lady was on drugs, had needles in the car, and had a suspended license .. But according to u.. thats better i guess .. im not saying its ok for kids to be out late because im still a kid but things happen and that lady is 100% wrong!

Peter T.

wise girl

went to high school with her…she was on drugs in 8th grade! just a few months ago she got caught being the getaway driver for someone robbing a llocal pharmacy in west bab. she got caught by the plates on her care but got out of it bc she signed a statement against her cousin and friend. she bragged about it all over her facebook page which has since been taken down. o yea, she also has a suspended license! you know what’s really sad? so many kids from my high school are defending her actions, saying she’s a ‘poor ole addict’ and needs our help. we had our 10 year reunion on saturday. we’re all 28 now, not 18! guess no one has realized yet that we are responsible for our OWN actions! where were these people ‘supporting’ her before she got behind the wheel of her mom’s car! and why did mom give her the keys anyway?! waste of life

August 9, 2011 at 7:27 pm | Reply | Report comment

(You can treat your kids however you want! but u never know how theyll turn out.. just like the nut who hit them!) Apparently shes been like this since 8th grade
S

I’m glad you found satisfaction out of writing that. You’re a brave soul.
Sarah

FYI PJ was hit from behind you idiot. That just shows how much you know.

belton

Suspended license, History of drugs, currently drug stuff found in her car. OBVIOUSLY our punishments are not a deterent enough for these multiple time criminals.
first time.. slap on teh wrist ..second time.. a little milk in teh veins
blahblahblah

this lady needs one of those “If You Don’t Like My Driving Stay Off The Sidewalk” bumper stickers
CathyV

When people continue to drive in spite of license suspensions (and sometimes in spite of MULTIPLE license suspensions!) then the police should have the authority to impound the car. I’m sure this will happen when some politician’s kids is the one run over.
MeAgain

What’s the big deal? I just want to get some stank on the hanglow.
Nick

So when will there be a law making murder by driving impaired a Real Murder Charge? Subject to death penalties? Oh wait, all the politicians are drunken lying sacks of turd. They’ll never pass a law that effects them.
brooklyn4ever

Hey Johnny,

I am a blue eyed devil, really, I do have blue eyes and have been told that I can be a real devil. Unfortunately, since we can’t give her the punishment she truly deserves as death would put her out of her misery, we’ll just have to put her in jail till she gets out and does it again. This is just the way it is. Thank the stupid bleeding heart liberals.
Giveitbacktoem’

Where all all the racists comments on this story? Reality check when it’s one of your own huh? Bad people come from all races……………period.
I hope the all three fully recover.