Cops: Suspect in car chase was high

A Lindenhurst man was high on drugs when he led police on a low-speed car chase Friday that ended in North Lindenhurst after he hit five patrol cars, Suffolk County police said.

Joseph Ciambriello, 31, of 395 East Shore Rd., is charged with criminal mischief and driving while his ability was impaired by drugs.

Police said other charges are pending.

Ciambriello was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip with minor scrapes after police used a Taser device on him, a police spokeswoman said.

She did not have other details about his injuries but said he was still in the hospital Friday evening.

Five police officers and a lieutenant were treated for minor injuries at the same hospital.

During the chase, one driver crashed into a tree to avoid Ciambriello's car, police said. That driver was not injured.

The incident began at 10:24 a.m. as police responded to an emergency call about a man looking into windows at the Harding Avenue Elementary School on Harding Avenue in Lindenhurst.

The man identified himself to school officials as a town security guard and left, police said.

Police then found the suspect driving a black Corvette on East Shore Road in Lindenhurst.

The driver of the Corvette refused to pull over and "intentionally struck police cars as they pursued him," the news release said.

The chase ended on Colonial Road and Straight Path after Ciambriello struck one police car and then backed into another, the release said.

Ciambriello's condition at the hospital was not available and his arraignment date has not been set.

With Ellen Yan