Drunken driver leads officers on 50-minute pursuit, Suffolk police say

A driver who led Suffolk County police on a 50-minute car pursuit from Port Jefferson Station to Commack early Wednesday, and drove the wrong way on Nesconset Highway, was arrested and charged with drunken driving and other crimes, police said.

Two officers suffered minor injuries and four police cars were damaged during the pursuit, police said.

The driver, David Bonilla, 21, of Astoria, Queens, was taken to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown for evaluation and was treated and released, police said.

The chain of events began at about 2:20 a.m., police said, when an officer from the Sixth Precinct tried to make a traffic stop of a Kia Sorento being driven with its headlights off on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station. The driver, Bonilla, took off in the vehicle, police said, and drove westbound in the eastbound lanes of Nesconset Highway in Setauket and Lake Grove.

The pursuit ended at about 3:10 a.m., about 15 miles away, after Fourth Precinct officers who had joined the pursuit stopped Bonilla on the southbound side of the Sunken Meadow Parkway in Commack, police said.

Bonilla was also charged with unlawful fleeing a police officer, reckless driving and resisting arrest, police said. He was expected to be arraigned Thursday at First District Court in Central Islip. Attorney information was not available.

Two officers from the Fourth Precinct were taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with minor injuries and treated and released, police said.