Riverhead man flees officer; charged with DWI after crash, cops say

A Riverhead man was charged with driving while intoxicated after he fled a Suffolk police officer early Sunday and crashed his vehicle into gas pumps at a Patchogue service station, Suffolk police said.

Miguel Domingo Pascual, 20, of Melene Avenue, was in a 2003 Nissan at about 4 a.m. Sunday when a Fifth Precinct police officer saw him “driving at a high rate of speed,” Suffolk Assistant Police Commissioner Justin Meyers said in an email Sunday.

Pascual “drove away from the officer and before a pursuit was initiated, the vehicle crashed” into gas pumps at a Mobil gas station on West Main Street, Meyers said.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, police said. Pascual, who was not injured, was also cited for multiple traffic tickets, Meyers said. He was scheduled to be arraigned Sunday in First District Court in Central Islip.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.