LI CRIME BRIEFS

BALDWIN/Man gets 8 years in prison after trying to kill girlfriend

A Baldwin man who admitted to trying to kill his girlfriend by beating her and putting a plastic bag over her head has been sentenced to eight years in prison, Nassau County prosecutors said Friday.

David Knudson, 42, pleaded guilty in November to attempted second-degree murder, attempted first-degree assault, second-degree strangulation, aggravated criminal contempt, and resisting arrest. He was sentenced Thursday.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a Friday news release that Knudson's attack was "beyond comprehension," calling it violent and vicious.

"The abuse suffered by the victim in this case demanded that this defendant be removed from society," she said in the statement.

Authorities said Knudson got into an argument with his girlfriend, 32, after coming home intoxicated about 8 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2011.

The argument escalated, and "Knudson punched the victim in the face multiple times with closed fist, placed a plastic bag over her head, strangled her with both hands closed around her throat, and threatened to kill her," the news release said.

The unidentified woman freed herself. She suffered contusions, swelling, bruising and facial fractures, and requires jaw realignment surgery, prosecutors said.

-- GARY DYMSKI

BROOKHAVEN/Trio face gun charges after 5-mile car chase

A driver and his two passengers had a loaded handgun early Friday when they led Fifth Precinct officers on an estimated five-mile car chase during which the suspects tossed another handgun onto the roadway, Suffolk County police said.

Det. Sgt. Alan Feinstein declined to say how fast the driver was going as he led police from a stoplight on Montauk Highway in Patchogue to Old Stump Road and Montauk Highway in Brookhaven.

Officers Frank Munsch and Michael Richardsen pursued the car driven by Darnell Lewis, 29, after he ran a red light in Patchogue about 3:15 a.m., police said in a news release.

Other police vehicles joined the chase, which ended at 3:19 a.m. when the car went off the road into a wooded area.

All three suspects tried to run away, police said, but were quickly arrested. None of the suspects was hurt, police said.

Police said they found a loaded semiautomatic handgun in Lewis' car, a 2003 Mitsubishi. During the chase, at Carman Boulevard and Montauk Highway in Brookhaven, another semiautomatic handgun, not loaded, was tossed from the vehicle.

Lewis, of 245 Cabota Ave., Apt. 2, in Copiague, was charged with unlawful fleeing from a police officer, resisting arrest, driving while intoxicated, criminal possession of a controlled substance, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Feinstein said Lewis also will be charged with several traffic violations.

Lewis' passengers -- Michael Hernandez, 22, of 32 Lenox Ave., Central Islip, and Mellody Williams, 21, of 137 N. 20th St., Wyandanch -- were each charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The three were held overnight at the Fifth Precinct and were scheduled to be arraigned Saturday at First District Court in Central Islip.

-- GARY DYMSKI

FREEPORT/Cops investigating slaying seek help from public

Nassau County police are investigating a fatal shooting Thursday night in Freeport.

Jose Baldimir Portillo, 30, of Freeport, was found at 9:07 p.m. fatally shot in the street, police said, adding that it is not known who found the victim on North Columbus Avenue.

Detectives urge anyone with information about the case to anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 800-244-TIPS.

-- GARY DYMSKI