Cops: Thief crashes SUV stolen in Hauppauge into tree in Medford

A car thief crashed a stolen SUV into a tree Saturday morning during a police pursuit, Suffolk County police said.

Christopher Green, 31, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The Mastic Beach man was arrested Saturday and has been charged with grand larceny in the third degree and unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the third degree.

According to police the car Green crashed, a 2006 Nissan Murano, was stolen around 9:50 a.m. from the BP gas station at the intersection of Express Drive North and Wheeler Road in Hauppauge. The theft victim was able to track the SUV through a mobile app on a cellphone that was left in the Murano.

Police said that about an hour later officers found the SUV about 10 miles east in a Farmingville parking lot at 1945 North Ocean Ave. But when police tried to pull the Murano over, the driver took off and officers lost sight of the SUV while trying to chase it, police said in a statement.

Shortly before police found the SUV again, Green had lost control of the Nissan and it crashed into a tree on Horseblock Road, just east of Fairmont Avenue in Medford, police said.

Police said Green would be arraigned at a later date. It is unclear if he is represented by an attorney.