Police: Two Seriously Hurt After Unlicensed Driver Hits Cop Car at Traffic Stop

Two people were seriously injured when an unlicensed driver slammed into the back of an unoccupied cop car at a traffic stop in Hauppauge Tuesday night, police said.

According to police, Orvin Antonio Gabriel, of Brentwood, was driving a 2001 Toyota Corolla west on Route 347, east of Route 111, when his vehicle hit the police car at about 8:40 p.m. The police car then hit two police officers as well as two people who had been in a 2013 Hyundai Sonata that had been stopped by the officers a short time before the crash, police said.

The occupants of the Honda, Samantha Koppen, 25, of Levittown, and Chad Jackowski, 37, of Farmingdale, were transported via Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital, where they are listed in serious condition with multiple internal injuries.

Fourth Precinct police officers John Kurklen and Adam Tuthill were transported to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown, where they were treated and released.

Koppen was initially stopped by police for a vehicle and traffic infraction, police said. Drug paraphernalia and a quantity of heroin were recovered during the traffic stop, police said.

Gabriel, 24, was charged with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and operation of vehicles when approaching a parked, stopped or a standing authorized emergency vehicle or hazard vehicle. He was being held at the Fourth Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday.

All three vehicles were impounded for safety checks and the investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash to contact the Vehicular Crime Unit at 631-852-6555.