Patrick Thompson, of Levittown, gets 6 to 18 years in prison for drunken-driving crash that killed Daniel Bliss

A Levittown man who struck and killed a North Bellmore motorcyclist in a drunken-driving crash in October, then tried to hide from police in a wooded sump, has been sentenced to up to 18 years in prison, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced Thursday.

Authorities said Patrick Thompson, 59, was “highly intoxicated” when he crashed into the motorcycle being operated by Daniel Bliss, 63, on North Jerusalem Avenue near the intersection of Sherman Avenue in North Bellmore on Oct. 26. The district attorney’s office said Thompson was attempting to make a left turn into a convenience store parking lot when he hit Bliss' 2003 Harley Davidson motorcycle just after 11 p.m.

Bliss, who was thrown to the ground, died at the scene.

It took a Nassau County Police K-9 team more than an hour to locate Thompson, who the district attorney’s office said fled to a tree-filled sump nearly a half-mile from the accident site.

“The defendant displayed several signs of intoxication,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement detailing the sentencing.

Prosecutors said Thompson’s blood alcohol content was .18% about three hours after the crash — more than double the legal limit of .08%.

Arrested by Nassau Homicide Squad detectives on Oct. 27, Thompson pleaded guilty on Feb. 25 to aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated driving while intoxicated per se and also to leaving the scene of an incident without reporting.

He was sentenced to 6 to 18 years in prison.

“Patrick Thompson tried to duck responsibility after driving while highly intoxicated and crashing into Daniel Bliss’ motorcycle," Donnelly said in a statement Thursday. "After the crash, and a passing glance at Daniel as he died in the street, the defendant ran and hid like a coward. Thompson knew what he had done and thought only of himself. Now he will have many years in prison to reflect on his reckless actions.”

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.