Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart will discuss the suspension of several Suffolk County police officers over an incident captured on body camera video last week, county officials said.
The news conference at the H. Lee Dennison Building Tuesday night will center around the arrest of Christopher Cruz on Wednesday in Mount Sinai, a county sources told Newsday.
Cruz, 30, stole a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee in Port Jefferson Station on Feb. 23, Suffolk police said Wednesday. Suffolk police officers in an unmarked car saw Cruz drive into the parking lot of a gas station on Route 112. Officers in marked vehicles arrived at the scene, and Cruz rammed one of the police cars, injuring an officer before driving off.
A short time later, Cruz lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a snow bank near the intersection of Canal Road and Strathmore Court in Mount Sinai, according to authorities. He rammed a police car for the second time and crashed into a snowbank before he was arrested shortly after midnight on Wednesday. A second officer was hurt while Cruz was being taken into custody, police said.
Cruz, who is homeless, was taken to St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson where he was treated for minor injuries and released. The two injured police officers were also taken to a local hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.
Cruz, was charged with third-degree grand larceny, second-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief and resisting arrest.
