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No criminal charges recommended against off-duty Nassau cop who fatally hit a Mineola woman with his car: AG

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New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office recommended no charges against Nassau cop who allegedly fatally struck an elderly woman.
REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

An off-duty Nassau County Police Officer will not face criminal charges after allegedly fatally striking an 85-year-old Mineola woman with his truck, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office.

In a Tuesday report, investigators from James’ office determined officer Timothy Vitiello was not speeding or driving recklessly when he struck pedestrian Teresa Gucciardo, of Mineola, in a Commack shopping center parking lot with his pickup truck on Nov. 28, 2022.

Video footage obtained from a Michael’s craft store in the shopping center shows Vitiello’s truck “slowly roll” into Gucciardo, causing her to fall. Gucciardo sustained head injuries and an ankle fracture and displayed slurred speech and an altered mental state after being hit. She died four weeks later on Dec. 22 after a series of medical complications, according to the attorney general’s report. 

“I just hit a pedestrian, I didn’t see her. We need an ambulance here. She’s breathing still,” James’ report cites Vitiello as saying after he hit Gucciardo that November afternoon.

Because the collision was not initially fatal, the Suffolk County Police Department did not notify the Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation, or OSI, when Gucciardo died. 

“Nevertheless, after conducting its own investigation, OSI does not find reason to believe that Officer Vitiello was speeding or otherwise driving recklessly, or intoxicated,” James’ report states. “For that reason [OSI] concludes that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Officer Vitiello committed a crime, and closes the matter with the issuance of this report.”

Vitiello had worked for the Nassau County Police Department since 2008 and had no record or founded allegations of excessive use of force or disciplinary record, according to the report.

Gucciardo’s family filed a wrongful death suit, a civil charge, against Vitiello and the shopping center in 2023. The suit is still pending. 

Vitiello declined to provide a statement to the Suffolk County Police Department after the collision, and the law firm representing him in the wrongful death suit, Scahill Law Group, did not respond to a request for comment. 

The Nassau County Police Department also did not respond to a request for comment.