Off-duty cop hurt by wrong-way driver, police say

A drunken driver going the wrong way on a road in Ridge early Saturday collided head-on with an off-duty East Hampton cop heading home from work, seriously hurting both men, Suffolk police said.

Both men were taken to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where they were in serious condition, police said.

The suspected wrong-way driver is under arrest and hospitalized under police guard, but detectives are unsure of his last name, said Det. Sgt. William Bundrick, a supervisor on the case. Charges against the suspect include driving while intoxicated. They could be upgraded depending on the alcohol-screening results of a court-ordered blood test and the extent of the officer's injuries, Bundrick said.

The suspect, believed to be 26, had been driving the wrong way for at least a mile, police said.

The crash happened about 4:17 a.m. on Middle Country Road, just east of the William Floyd Parkway. The suspect, going east in a 1997 Volkswagen Jetta, hit the off-duty cop, going west in a 1999 Honda Civic, police said.

The suspect suffered a severe ankle injury and a broken leg; the officer has a broken heel, a fractured sternum and a slight head injury, police said.

The officer, whose name was not made public, is 31 and lives in Ridge, police said. He had been working overtime and was on his way home, Bundrick said.

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