Off Duty Officer Shoots Cabby on LI

Officers say cabby tried to run them over

Road rage on Long Island between a taxi driver and two off-duty police officers left the cabby shot and arrested after he allegedly drove his cab into the officers early Sunday, authorities said.

The confrontation began after two off-duty Nassau County officers, driving separate cars, got lost and pulled over in Huntington Station in Suffolk County, said police.

This apparently annoyed a cabby who had been driving behind them near the intersection of Oakwood Road and Tippin Drive about 1:18 a.m., sparking an argument, said Lt. Gerard Pelkossky, a Suffok County Police spokesman.

The officers claimed the cabby, Thomas Moroughan, 26, then tried to run them over, the lieutenant said. One of the unidentified officers fired more than twice at Moroughan in what preliminarily looks like a justified use of force, said the lieutenant.

Wounded in his right chest and left forearm, Moroughan, of Huntington Station, was treated and released from Huntington Hospital and then charged with assault and reckless endangerment, the lieutenant said. He's expected to be arraigned Monday in Central Islip.

After the off-duty officer fired into the taxi, he identified himself as a police officer and ordered Moroughan to get out but he refused and drove himself to the hospital.

The officers were treated for cuts and bruises.

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