Police car struck on LIE, officer hospitalized, cops say

A pickup truck rear-ended a parked Suffolk police car making a traffic stop Sunday morning on the Long Island Expressway in Medford, sending the officer to the hospital, Suffolk County police said.

The police car had been stopped on the right shoulder of the westbound LIE at Route 112 between exits 63 and 64 when it was rear-ended by a Honda Ridgeline pickup truck at 8:33 a.m., police said.

The police officer, who had stopped the driver of a Nissan Altima for allegedly speeding, was in his vehicle when it was struck, according to police. The impact of the pickup truck caused the police car to strike the Altima, police said.

The officer was being held overnight for observation at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. The driver of the pickup truck, a 49-year-old man, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with a minor facial injury. The driver of the Altima, an 18-year-old man, was not injured, police said.

The driver of the pickup truck was not ticketed, police said.