Suffolk police Officer Nicholas Guerrero, critically hurt in hit-run, to be released from hospital

The police officer who was critically injured by a hit-and-run driver four weeks ago will be released from the hospital Friday and transferred to a rehabilitation facility, Suffolk County police said.

The recovery milestone for Officer Nicholas Guerrero, 36, who had been in a medically induced coma, will be marked at Stony Brook University Hospital by members of the police department as the patient gets into an ambulance.

His injuries and treatment will be discussed during a news conference by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Edward Webber and Dr. James Vosswinkel, the hospital's chief of trauma and emergency surgery division.

Guerrero, part of the Second Precinct crime section, and his partner, Heriberto Lugo, were struck Sept. 22, by a Ford Explorer speeding away from a traffic stop on Partridge Lane in Huntington, officials said.

The plainclothes officer sustained a serious head injury and underwent surgery. Lugo was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.

Two Northport men, Chad Morizsan, 34, and Nicholas Franzone, 22, were arrested later that day, authorities said.Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said last week he will seek the maximum sentence -- 50 years in prison -- on the top charges the two men face. Morizsan and Franzone face 28 counts, including vehicular assault, grand larceny and robbery.