Officials: Cop hurt during traffic stop

A motorcycle cop in Long Beach was struck and hurt by a driver yesterday as the cop was giving another driver a ticket, authorities said.

The accident happened about 3:18 p.m. on the northbound Long Beach Bridge, authorities said.

The Long Beach police officer, Chris Orza, was taken to Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, where doctors planned to hold him overnight for observation and release him today, said Long Beach City Manager Charles Theofan.

Orza's injuries were to his neck, back and hip.

Orza's mother, Kathy Orza, 70, said her son -- a married father of three boys -- was in a neck brace and being given morphine.

Police charged the driver, Freddy Flamberg, 33, of Long Beach, with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, and also ticketed him for reckless driving and breaking the state's new move-over law, which requires drivers to slow down and change lanes, if possible, to give a stopped emergency vehicle more room.

Flamberg, of West Fulton Street, was scheduled to be arraigned today at Long Beach City Court, police said. No listed number for Flamberg or his family could be found.

The bridge, which connects Long Beach and Island Park, is three lanes in each direction.

The move-over law took effect Jan. 1. It was passed in honor of two upstate police officers who died while their patrol vehicles were stopped on the side of the road. At least two local officers have been critically hurt or killed in similar circumstances in the past three years.

In February, Nassau County highway Patrolman Michael Califano died after a trucker accused of dozing off slammed into his stopped patrol car on the Long Island Expressway in Old Westbury. It was the department's first line-of-duty death since 1993.

In May 2008, another Nassau highway patrolman, Kenneth Baribault, was severely hurt on the LIE in Plainview when a drunken driver slammed into his patrol car. Baribault had pulled over a suspected drunken driver.

Long Beach police spokesman Deputy Insp. Bruce Meyer credited Orza's motorcycle helmet with saving his life.

"If he wasn't wearing the helmet, who knows what would have happened?" Meyer said.

Orza, who grew up in Long Beach, has been on motorcycle patrol for two years, Theofan said.

Orza joined the force in 2007 after a three-year stint with the NYPD. Before joining the Long Beach force, Orza had been assigned to the Midtown North Precinct in Manhattan.

Kathy Orza said her son had studied to be a pastor.

When his oldest son, Noah, 4, found out Saturday that his dad had been injured, she said, "He came to me and he said, 'OK, Grandma, we're gonna pray.' He said, 'Jesus, make my dad better,' and that's when I knew Chris would be OK."