Nearly two years to the date after he and fellow officers were stabbed in Medford, Suffolk County Officer Brendan Gallagher was seriously injured once more—this time in a Long Island Expressway (LIE) chase turned malicious.
Local leaders joined at 1 p.m. on Monday outside the entrance of Stony Brook Hospital to discuss what transpired in Brentwood on Sunday night.
Police officials confirmed Officer Gallagher—a member of Suffolk County’s recently formed Street Takeover Task Force—had been on the side shoulder of the LIE between exits 55-56 on an unrelated traffic stop at approximately 6:09 p.m. on Jan. 5th when a Mustang flew by him at 95-100 mph.
Gallagher pursued the vehicle, at which point the Mustang’s driver Cody Fisher tried to flee detection by blending into traffic. Fisher’s attempt to make a break for it was short-lived, as he soon lost control of the car. It fishtailed and sideswiped Gallagher’s vehicle, forcing the latter to leave the roadway, strike a tree, and overturn.
Fisher collided with a light post. He was transported to South Shore University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Suffolk County Police announced after the press conference they had arrested Fisher for driving while ability impaired; assault in the second degree; unlawful fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle in the second degree; and reckless driving.
Dr. James A. Vosswinkel (“Voss”), who also treated Gallagher when he was stabbed two years ago, shared health updates at the press conference. He recalls that police officers—who Nassau County’s Police Commissioner identified as a pair of off-duty officers en route to their posts—“climbed into the mess” to control as much of the hemorrhaging Gallagher suffered as they could. It took about 30 minutes to extricate Gallagher from the vehicle.
A helicopter emergency transported Gallagher to Stony Brook, where he currently remains in the ICU asleep, on a life support ventilator, and on medication.
Gallagher was in bad shape when first admitted, according to Dr. Voss. Transfusions were required to quell internal bleeding. Lacerations consumed a large portion of his body. His aorta had ripped extensively.
Suffolk PBA President Lou Civello was not shy in referring to reckless individuals like the Mustang driver as “thugs that are terrorizing our roads.”
He declared the State of New York has failed Gallagher, has failed everyone as this ongoing local epidemic of speedsters turning main roads into war zones egregiously persists. In this instance, Fisher was on probation for a weapons charge and had previously been arrested for much of the same offenses.
Civello commends the officer now battling his life for responding to his past near-brush with death by choosing to return to the streets rather than settling for the more comfortable confines of a desk job.
“We have a mother and father wondering if their son is going to make it and it didn’t have to happen,” he said. “This officer is an absolute hero. We are praying for his recovery.”
“You shouldn’t have to almost kill a police officer for us to be able to hold you on bail. These laws have no teeth,” Civello concludes. “The very laws that we risk our lives to uphold and enforce are undermining us. We renew our call to the state legislature, to the assembly, to the senate: Do your job!”
“Our first obligation is public safety and protecting the public,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said. The longtime local legislator surely grows more disappointed each time he must deliver similar press conference-staged remarks on a seemingly weekly basis within a frenzy of cases all marked by fast and furious wannabees who decided to play antigod.
Romaine seconded Civello’s notions. “You don’t protect the public with laws that allow people to speed race well over 100mph, to speed race the Long Island Expressway, and allow them to walk out the very same day,” he said. “That cannot and should not be the case. We need changes in Albany to protect the general public and to protect our police officers.”
While a demand for a long-term legislative change is palpable, everyone on hand’s primary focus was made apparent: showcasing their solidarity with the Stony Brook University Hospital staff tasked to restore Gallagher to health.
“The next 24-48 hours are critical,” Dr. Voss stressed.