HEMPTEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) -- Two Suffolk County police officers were struck and injured by drunk drivers over an 18-hour span, police said Tuesday.
The department tweeted a photo showing two cruisers that were damaged in the crashes early Sunday and later that night.
The first crash was around 4:45 a.m. near Exit 55 on the westbound side of the Long Island Expressway in Hauppauge.
Police said a man driving a Volkswagen veered off the road and struck a Highway Patrol Bureau cruiser before crashing into a second vehicle that was in the travel lanes.
A Highway Patrol Bureau sergeant in the cruiser was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was treated and released.
Tracy Smith, 30, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and issued a summons for violation of the Move Over Law.
Neither Smith nor the driver of the second vehicle were injured, police said.
Hours later, another Suffolk police cruiser was struck by a drunk driver in Brentwood around 9:15 p.m.
Police said the driver of a Toyota Corolla was heading northbound on Fifth Avenue when he tried to turn right onto Arizona Avenue and crashed his vehicle into the driver’s side door of the police car driven by a patrol officer who was responding to a call with his lights and sirens activated.
The officer was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Nicolas Chicas, 48, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. He was not injured in the crash.
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