Cops: Driver fled DWI checkpoint

A Hampton Bays man is under arrest after he fled from a DWI checkpoint, struck an officer's patrol unit and engaged police in a "medium speed pursuit" from Ronkonkoma to Holbrook early Thursday, police said.

One officer suffered minor injuries during the incident, Suffolk County police said.

Derek Wagner, 35, was charged with driving while ability-impaired by drugs, driving while intoxicated, unlawful fleeing of a police officer and second-degree criminal mischief, police said. The mischief charge stems for his allegedly damaging the police car. He is scheduled for arraignment Thursday in First District Court in Central Islip.

Police said officers were conducting a DWI checkpoint on North Ocean Avenue just south of the Long Island Expressway when Wagner, driving a 1999 Ford minivan, fled from the checkpoint location at 12:41 a.m.

Fifth Precinct officers then chased Wagner, who had struck a patrol car while fleeing the checkpoint, on what police called "a medium-speed pursuit" that ended on Patchogue-Holbrook Road near Somerset Drive in Holbrook.

That's a distance of about 4 miles.

Police could not immediately say how many patrol units were involved in the chase.

Wagner was uninjured, police said.