A New Hyde Park man and a Nassau County police officer were hospitalized after a head-on collision on Glen Cove Road in Greenvale early Monday morning.
According to detectives, Third Precinct Officer Willard Gomes, a 12-year veteran with the Nassau County police, was driving north on Glen Cove Road in an unmarked police car for a holiday DWI patrol around 2:23 a.m. Monday while Keith Dillion, 29, of New Hyde Park, was heading southbound in a 2014 Dodge.
Officers said Dillion crossed the double yellow line divider into oncoming traffic and struck Gomes head-on near the intersection of Back Road. Police were forced to cut Gomes’ car open to free him from the wreckage.
After the accident, officers found a white, powdery substance believed to be cocaine in Dillion’s car, detectives said.
Dillion is charged with second-degree assault, second-degree vehicular assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance and driving while intoxicated.
Gomes was treated for a head injury causing swelling and bleeding on his brain as well as broken vertebrae, a fractured neck, a broken left arm, a broken left leg, a broken left eye orbital, lung contusions and missing teeth. He is listed in serious but stable condition.
Dillion, who is being treated for a broken left ankle, will be arraigned when it is medically practical, officers said.
“I would like to commend Officer Gomes for his commitment to the department and for putting his life on the line during one of the busiest nights of the year for drinking and driving arrests,” Nassau Police Benevolent Association President James McDermott said in a statement after visiting Gomes in the hospital on Monday. “Our prayers are with him and his family during this time of crisis and hope he will fully recover as quickly as possible.”
