Long Beach Bridge to close for half hour

Northbound lanes of the Long Beach Bridge will be closed for a half-hour Tuesday -- from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. -- as police reconstruct a Saturday accident in which a Long Beach motorcycle officer was hit by a passing car, Nassau County police said.

One southbound lane over the bridge will be dedicated for northbound traffic, police said in a traffic alert.

Motorists should expect possible delays and use alternate routes if possible, =In the Saturday accident, the motorcycle officer, Chris Orza, was hit by a driver as Orza was giving another driver a ticket, authorities said.

The accident happened about 3:18 p.m. on the northbound Long Beach Bridge.

Orza was taken to Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola with injuries to his neck, back and hip.

The officer was released on Tuesday, a Long Beach spokeswoman said.

City Manager Charles Theofan said Sunday that the officer was standing outside the ticketed vehicle, by the driver's window, when the moving car struck both him and the stopped vehicle. He said that Freddy Flamberg, 33, of Long Beach, was traveling at an "excessive rate of speed," and lost control when he attempted to slow down and brake.

Police charged Flamberg with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and ticketed him for reckless driving and violating the state's new "move-over law," which requires drivers to slow down and change lanes, if possible, when approaching stopped emergency vehicles.

Flamberg was arraigned Sunday and released on $1,000 bail, said Theofan said.