Injured LI Cop's Reunion With Family For Christmas Is Hours Away

PORT JEFFERSON, NY — The Long Island police officer is being released early from St. Charles Rehabilitation — just in time to celebrate Christmas with his family from whom he has been separated while recuperating from critical injuries he sustained in a chain reaction crash with a an alleged drunk driver.

Thrane, who was admitted to St. Charles on Friday, is scheduled to be released on Thursday, according to the press office at Catholic Health Services of Long Island. It is expected that he will be greeted by his fellow officers and will receive a police motorcade to escort his family home.

Thrane, a 35-year-old member of the force for three years, had been directing traffic after an earlier crash at the intersection of William Floyd Parkway and Yaphank Woods Boulevard in Yaphank on Nov. 3 at midnight when police say a drunk driver struck the rear of a parked GMC Yukon causing the vehicle to strike him. He ended up being put on life support and underwent life-saving surgery. He spent one month at Stony Brook Hospital Medical Center.

Dr. James Vossvinkel, Stony Brook University Hospital Chief of the Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care who also serves as Suffolk police's chief consulting surgeon and medical director, predicted that Thrane would be home for Christmas at his discharge from Stony Brook.

He said it was "very hard to describe the emotions."

Thrane will still have to go through "a lot of suffering and pain, unfortunately" as he regains muscle to be able to walk again, Vossvinkel added.

"As a whole, he is going to be going home to his family," he said. "He's going to be a dad and he's going to be a police officer. So it's the most positive outcome to have, but he has a lot of work ahead."

After his discharge from Stony Brook, Thrane told reporters that he felt great to be one step closer to going home, Newsday reported.

He went on to describe the support that he got as "overwhelming." That's the longest I've ever not seen my children," he added.