A Suffolk County police officer has been charged with fleeing the scene of a crash that left a 40-year-old motorcyclist critically injured in Ronkonkoma over the weekend, authorities said.
Thomas O’Neill was charged with leaving the scene of an incident resulting in serious physical injury after turning himself in Monday at the Fourth Precinct station house in Hauppauge.
Vehicular Crime Unit detectives alleged the 44-year-old officer from Centereach was driving a pickup truck westbound on Portion Road when he hit an eastbound motorcycle that was attempting to turn left into a parking lot east of Avenue B at 7:25 p.m. Sunday.
O’Neill, who was off-duty at the time, allegedly fled the scene. The victim, Charles Giardinello, of Nesconset, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was admitted in critical condition.
O’Neill, a 12-year veteran of the force assigned to the Community Response Bureau, has been suspended without pay, police said.
He submitted to a blood test that will be analyzed for alcohol and drugs, turned over the vehicle involved in the crash and consented to a search as well as a forensic analysis.
