A US Army veteran was placed in a medically induced coma after being slammed head-on by a suspected drunk driver while returning home from his Long Island security job, according to police.
Nelson Gonzalez, 63, was driving home from work the day after Christmas when a 2025 Mazda CX-7 smashed into his Toyota Tacoma as he was making a left turn on Express Drive South in Melville around 10 p.m. Suffolk County police said.
The driver of the Mazda, 59-year-old John Ankelman, was arrested at the scene and charged with driving while intoxicated, according to police.
Long Island security guard Nelson Gonzalez, 63, was driving home when he was hit by a suspected drunk driver. Facebook/Nelson GonzalezRecords show he was arraigned and released without bail.
“We are very upset. Why was he out there drinking?” the injured man’s sister-in-law, Nitsa Gonzalez, told The Post Wednesday. “We’re all in shock, and to let him out [without bail] on Saturday, that’s not fair.
“He’s home celebrating, doing what he’s doing, and we’re all here, devastated and hoping for the best,” she said. “It’s not right.”
Gonzalez, who was critically injured, was taken to Plainview Hospital and later transferred to North Shore Community Hospital in Manhasset, where he is in a medically induced coma, the department said.
Nitsa Gonzalez said her brother-in-law, who worked two security jobs on Long Island, suffered swelling in his brain after the crash and had to be placed in a coma as doctors were fighting to save his life.
The oldest of six siblings, Nelson Gonzalez served in the US Army and later spent 18 years in the National Guard, she said.
Gonzalez, who was critically injured, was taken to Plainview Hospital and later transferred to North Shore Community Hospital in Manhasset, where he is in a medically induced coma, the department said. Facebook/Nelson GonzalezThe family got worried when he didn’t come home from work on Friday night.
“We called his number, it wasn’t responding, nothing,” Nitsa Gonzalez recalled. “I started calling hospitals, my daughter also. My husband was calling family members here and there.
“We were about to report him missing and my daughter finally found that there was a John Doe from a Melville crash,” she said. “When we went to [the hospital in] Manhasset, that’s how we found out.”
“Please say some healing prayers for my friend Nelson,” a friend of the injured man posted on Instagram. “He was the security guard at our old office building and was hit head on by a drunk driver on his way home from work last Friday night.
“Nelson has a heart of gold and is simply the kindest human being,” the post said. “A gentle giant.”
Ankelman did not have an attorney listed on court records and could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment.
