Off-Duty NYPD Officer Killed In L.I.E. Crash
DIX HILLS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An off-duty NYPD officer was killed early Monday in a crash on the Long Island Expressway.
Another driver was also injured.
Officer Joseph Pritchard, 30, was stopped in his 2008 Dodge pickup truck for an unknown reason in the westbound right lane of the expressway at 2:23 a.m. Monday, Suffolk County police said. His pickup truck was struck from the rear by a 2001 International box truck belonging to Barakat Trucking, and driven by Eduardo Garcia, 34, of the Bronx.
Both vehicles caught fire after the accident, police said.
Pritchard, of North Babylon, was pronounced dead at the scene by a Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office physician assistant, police said. Garcia was taken by Dix Hills fire crews to Huntington Hospital in Huntington with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
NYPD officials Monday night were not sure why Pritchard was stopped in the right lane. The NYPD said flags will be at half-staff at the Midtown South Precinct where he worked.
Police did not indicate whether any charges or tickets would be issued in connection with the crash.
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