Cop hurt in crash with alleged DWI driver

A veteran Riverhead Town police officer was injured Wednesday night when a drunken driver, fleeing another officer in a pursuit, crossed into his lane and crashed into his cruiser head-on on Sound Avenue in Aquebogue, police said.

Officer Charles Schneider was airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center with internal injuries and is in stable condition, Riverhead Det. Sgt. Joseph Loggia said.

The driver of the fleeing vehicle, identified by police as Edward Ferger, 46, of Washington Avenue, Jamesport, was also airlifted to Stony Brook. He was treated and released.

He was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving while ability-impaired by drugs, reckless driving and other traffic violations, police said. He was arraigned Thursday and remanded to the Suffolk County jail, police said.

Police said the incident began when an officer went to investigate a 911 call reporting a suspicious vehicle on Herricks Lane in Jamesport. That officer attempted to make a traffic stop, Loggia said, but the white van fled.

Loggia said the officer pursued the van, driven by Ferger, and that pursuit went onto westbound Sound Avenue.

Schneider was headed eastbound on Sound Avenue, attempting to join the chase, when Ferger crossed into the eastbound lane and struck Schneider's patrol car head-on, police said.

Loggia said Ferger told police he had been smoking crack in the van before the chase. Police are awaiting the result of toxicology tests.

Schneider is a former New York Police Department officer and was recently named the Kiwanis Police Officer of the Year by Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller.

Police said Schneider had saved the life of an injured Jamesport resident in October and is scheduled to receive the award in January.