Nassau cop hit by car has initial pelvicsurgery

The first stage of pelvic surgery for a veteran Nassau County police officer, critically injured after being struck by a car in Lawrence, took place Wednesday night, a Nassau University Medical Center spokeswoman said.

The initial pelvic stabilization procedure was performed by an orthopedic surgeon at NUMC in preparation for a more extensive operation, Shelley Lotenberg, the hospital's public affairs director, said Thursday.

"The pelvic repair surgery should take place in about a week," Lotenberg said in an email.

In the accident, which took place Tuesday, the officer was outside his car on the northbound side of Route 878, the Nassau Expressway, when he was hit by an Audi driven by a 43-year-old man who had his two children, ages 20 and 9, in the car, police said.

The crash happened just north of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, police said. The officer was cracking down on speeding drivers at the time, police said.

Investigators said there was no criminality involved and the investigation is continuing.

Police did not name the Fourth Precinct officer, who is 57, but said he also suffered internal bleeding, which doctors stemmed in surgery Tuesday. The officer also suffered skull and leg fractures, police said.