Cops: Car hits patrol vehicle after driver flees, pair charged

Two Bay Shore men whom Suffolk officers confronted as they rode in a stolen Nissan remained in custody Tuesday night, a day after the driver refused a command to pull over and later crashed into a pursuing patrol car, officials said.

Driver Terrance Jones, 18, faces charges of grand larceny, assault, reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, resisting arrest and unlawfully fleeing police, officials said. His passenger, Daniel Austin, also 18, was charged with criminal possession of stolen property, Suffolk police said.

The incident began after an officer from Suffolk’s Third Precinct responded to a 2 p.m. call Monday reporting a suspicious vehicle in Bay Shore, police said.

The officer arrived to find Jones driving Austin in a 2004 Nissan that had been reported stolen, police said. When the officer tried to pull the car over, Jones drove off with Suffolk patrol units following, police said.

Near the intersection of Long Island Avenue and Heartland Boulevard in Brentwood, Jones attempted a U-turn and struck a patrol vehicle that had been following the Nissan, police said.

Jones drove away and eventually crashed the Nissan near Route 111 and Spur Drive South in Islip, police said. He and Austin got out and ran but were captured a short time later, police said.

Two officers involved in the pursuit were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, police said. Authorities did not say how the officers were injured.

Jones and Austin were being held in the Third Precinct lockup and are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip, police said.