Driver Hit While on Radio Call-in Show

[Sharon (Premo)]

In a frightening moment when reality radio turned all too real Tuesday morning, motorist Cheryl Picker of Shoreham was debating the Michael Jackson sexual-abuse case on the air when her sport utility vehicle was hit and rolled over on the William Floyd Parkway.

Picker had just finished telling radio talk-show host Curtis Sliwa, "Maybe those are the parents that are the pedophiles," when listeners to WABC/770 AM heard a loud crash, the sound of crackling glass, tearing metal and then silence.

"Cheryl, are you OK?" co-host Ron Kuby said. "Cheryl? Cheryl?"

A faint voice responded, "Please call the cops."

Sliwa and Kuby could be heard trying simultaneously to reach her and to get help. Eventually a male voice said, "We're calling for an ambulance, ma'am."

"No, no, I've gotta get out of the car," Picker shouted.

As calls from witnesses poured into the station, the victim was removed from her 1998 Toyota RAV 4 and taken to John T. Mather Memorial Hospital in Port Jefferson, where she was kept overnight, Sliwa said.

A witness who did not give his name told Suffolk County police that Picker was stopped by the side of the road when her car was hit from behind. No charges were filed against her or John Apperson of Rocky Point, driver of the 1999 Chevrolet that hit her, police said. Apperson was not hurt.

"There have been a lot of strange incidences in 12 years on the radio, but this takes the cake," Sliwa said later in a telephone interview. "The only thing that came close was two hours I spent on the air talking a jumper down from the George Washington Bridge.

"You always realize, particularly in drive time, that it's crunch time for the motorist going to and from work," Sliwa said, with no apparent irony. "It's bumper to bumper."