Police: Driver Hit Officer On Long Island Expressway, Sped Off
HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A woman was arrested on Long Island Tuesday, after she allegedly struck a Suffolk County police officer with her car and drove off.
Around 2:10 p.m., Suffolk County Officer Dennis Hendrickson was standing on the shoulder of the Long Island Expressway in Hauppauge, assisting with traffic control after a crash that closed all westbound lanes west of Exit 56, police said.
A 2012 Volkswagen sped toward the officer, police said. He signaled for the driver to slow down, but the driver ignored the signals and struck Hendrickson on his right arm and hand as he tried to move out of the way, police said.
The driver did not stop after hitting the officer, and she continued westbound on the shoulder, police said.
She was stopped on the Long Island Expressway North Service Road near Wicks Road in Brentwood a short time later, police said.
The driver – Theresa Finnin-Hunt, 52, of Sea Cliff – was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, unlawful fleeing the scene of a police officer, and reckless driving, police said.
Hendrickson, who works with the Fourth Precinct Community Support Unit, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook and was treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Finnin-Hunt was to be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday.
