Officer Injured After Man Drives Wrong Way On Parkway: PD

BABYLON, NY — A 21-year-old man was arrested and faces multiple charges after driving the wrong way on Ocean State Parkway Thursday morning, causing a police officer to be injured in the pursuit, New York State Police said.

Police said they responded to a call at about 6:05 a.m. for a wrong-way driver going eastbound in the westbound lanes of the parkway. Troopers then pursued and blocked the car on the on the eastbound shoulder of the Ocean State Parkway, west of Robert Moses Causeway, officials said.

The driver, Jose Cortez-Peraza, 21 of Akron, OH was taken into custody and charged with the misdemeanor driving while impaired by drugs; seond-degree reckless endangerment; reckless endangerment of property; third-degree fleeing an officer; fourth-degree criminal mischief; and third-degree criminal possession of cannabis, police said. He was held for arraignment at Suffolk County First District Court.

One trooper sustained minor injuries while officers pursued Cortez-Peraza, police said. Four marked State Police vehicles and the driver's car were also damaged, police said.