Man Is Cast Into Newtown Creek and Killed

A man who investigators believe was driving drunk was killed after he lost control of his sports car and skidded into a polluted creek in Brooklyn.

Derek Winefsky, 27, was driving westbound on Apollo Street in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn when he lost control of his two-door black Mercedes-Benz just before 3:30 p.m., police said.

Winefsky, who police sources said had been drinking alcohol prior to the accident, drove through a fence at the end of Apollo Street and was cast into Newtown Creek, police said.

The police department deployed a sea rescue helicopter and members of its harbor unit to the creek, a contaminated rivulet that in recent years has become a focus of environmental groups.

Winefsky, who lived in Valley Stream, Long Island, was eventually fished out of the 2003 Mercedes and pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Examiners with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner had not determined if Winefsky's accident was indeed a result of alcohol, a spokeswoman for the office, Ellen Borakove, said. She said the case would be looked at today.