Cops: Driver flees crash, gets arrested at police pistol range
Emergency personnel respond to a crash Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016, on the Southern State Parkway between Exits 20 and 21 in Baldwin. Credit: Lou Minutoli
A driver involved in a literal hit-and-run crash Thursday morning on the Southern State Parkway was arrested after he left his car — and his pregnant girlfriend — at the scene, fled on foot and was caught at a police pistol range, State Police said.
The suspect, whose identity has not been released, faces assorted charges, including reckless driving, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and criminal contempt because he was in violation of an order of protection for his girlfriend, State Police said.
Arraignment information was not immediately available on Thursday, police said.
Police said the driver was operating his BMW “erratically” on the westbound parkway between Exit 21 and Exit 20, Grand Avenue, in Baldwin, when he hit a Dodge pickup truck, which overturned and struck a tree. The truck’s driver was not injured.
Police said the driver of the BMW fled the car on foot, leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend. State Police then issued an alert for the driver.
A State Police spokesman, Trooper Frank Bandiero, said Nassau County police officers who spotted the driver as they left the nearby pistol range detained him until he could be arrested by State Police.
The suspect was not injured, police said.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
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