Man was on drugs when he hit police car in Holtsville, Suffolk police say
Robert Haff Jr., of Oakdale, is led out of the Sixth Precinct in Selden on Wednesday. Credit: James Carbone
An Oakdale man was charged with driving while ability impaired by drugs after Suffolk County police said he crashed his pickup truck into a marked police car late Tuesday night on Nicolls Road in Holtsville.
Robert Haff Jr., 40, was charged with first-degree DWAI / drugs, first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance following the 11:50 p.m. crash, police said. He was held overnight at the Sixth Precinct. He was arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip but his bail status and representation was not available.
Police said Haff was driving a 2015 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup north on Nicolls Road when he struck the rear of the marked patrol car about half a mile north of the Long Island Expressway.
The patrol officer was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police impounded the pickup truck.
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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