Cody Fisher 'altered my life forever' says Brendon Gallagher, Suffolk officer seriously injured in high-speed crash

A Brentwood man, who admitted drinking and smoking marijuana before driving at speeds around 100 mph on the Long Island Expressway and causing a crash that nearly killed a Suffolk County officer, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.

Cody B. Fisher, 29, his voice unsteady and his hands cuffed behind his back, told a Riverhead courtroom packed with police officers, "I wish I could take it back. I pray for him just as much as I do for myself, and I hope that he will come to a full recovery."

Fisher pleaded guilty in September before Suffolk Supreme Court Justice John B. Collins to assault on a police officer, second-degree assault and four other crimes outlined in a 10-count indictment in connection with the Jan. 5 crash, which left Suffolk Highway Patrol Officer Brendon Gallagher bleeding internally and near death. Fisher would have faced up to 15 years in prison had he been convicted on the indictment, Newsday has previously reported.

Fisher was on probation at the time of the crash for a weapons charge stemming from a 2021 road rage incident in Queens.

That incident, and the punishment, seemed to gall Collins.

"You were already proven a menace on the roads," he said to the defendant. "For some reason, you were given probation in another jurisdiction."

The judge had sharp words too for prosecutors, though in a news conference after sentencing Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney, who did not speak before the court, described the plea bargain as a win for the people that avoided the risks inherent in any trial.

"We were satisfied with the ... disposition," Tierney said.

Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association president Lou Civello also praised the outcome, saying Fisher had agreed to the plea deal "because he faced a vigorous prosecution, and it was important to us that the penalty fit the crime in this case."

Then, slipping into a preacher’s cadence, the union chief described the offense as a symptom of societal breakdown: "Why is this defendant so brazen? ... For this defendant, police aren’t a deterrent, police aren’t something to be afraid of — no, the police are something to play with the police are something to antagonize."

Gallagher, part of a police unit created to combat illegal street racing, was making a routine traffic stop when he saw Fisher speed by and gave chase, prosecutors have said.

In court Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe said Fisher appeared to relish a chance to challenge the officer, revving the engine of his 2021 Ford Mustang before speeding away in the expressway’s westbound lanes, weaving in and out of traffic and into the HOV lane before apparently attempting to blend in with traffic.

But after "drastically" dropping speed, he collided with Gallagher’s vehicle, causing the officer’s vehicle to crash into a tree alongside the highway. Gallagher’s steering wheel pushed so deep into his body it "caused the abdominal wall to separate from the organs," she said.

It took 45 frantic minutes for Gallagher’s fellow officers to free him from the crumpled vehicle. One officer knelt on his midsection to stanch the bleeding with the pressure of his body weight, Newcombe said. When the officer finally got up, after the helicopter ride to Stony Brook University Hospital, Gallagher’s blood pressure plummeted.

Fisher’s lawyer, Eric Besso, said his client was "a good person who made a poor decision on this day." Fisher, he said, "accepted his responsibility in this. ... He didn’t have any intent to hurt the officer."

In a statement in the courtroom, Gallagher, who wore dress blues and walked with a limp, said Fisher had "altered my life forever."

Since he was a boy growing up in North Babylon, he said, he’d wanted to be a cop, matter-of-factly describing a career in service that had brought him enough peril for several lifetimes: first as a National Guardsman in Kabul, Afghanistan, then as a Suffolk cop when he and his partner were stabbed in 2022 responding to a call about a person having a mental health episode.

Then this crash.

Maybe Fisher didn’t want to get a ticket, he said, or was "looking for a thrill."

Later, speaking to reporters, Gallagher said Fisher’s apology didn’t carry much weight with him.

"I think he’s just sorry he got caught," he said. Still, he said, he bore no anger to the man. "You make poor decisions, and you face the consequences."

"I'm satisfied" he said of Fisher's sentence. "It's finally over."

Gallagher grew more animated when someone asked him about the job. No, he’s not working now, but yes, he intends to return to the force.

"It’s the best thing that ever happened to me," he said. "I would recommend this job to anybody."