A 40-year-old Brooklyn man has been arrested in connection with a traffic law-violating spree on Long Island that ended with a police officer hit by a vehicle and dragged late last year, authorities said Thursday.
Ephrem Jusino was taken into custody Wednesday in Deer Park and charged with assault to a police officer causing serious physical injury, leaving the scene of an accident with serious injury, reckless driving and other offenses over the series of events that unfolded in Hicksville on the afternoon of Dec. 9, 2021.
According to detectives, special operations officers noticed a Nissan Altima with Pennsylvania plates violate multiple traffic regulations around 3:40 p.m. that day as it headed westbound on Old Country Road by Duffy Avenue. They stopped the car. Two men were inside it. One officer asked for a driver's license and registration, which cops say the driver didn't provide.
When prompted again, cops say the driver accelerated and sped away from the scene, hitting the officer who had asked for identification in the food and hand and then dragging that officer several feet before shaking him off.
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The officer has been out of work since the incident, Suffolk County police say. He has undergone four surgeries.
It wasn't clear what led police to Jusino this week. He is expected to be arraigned later Thursday. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
