Suffolk Cop Charged in Hit-and-Run That Critically Injured Motorcyclist

A Suffolk County Police officer from Centereach has been charged in a hit-and-run crash that critically injured a motorcyclist in Ronkonkoma Sunday night.

Thomas O’Neill, who was off duty at the time of the crash, turned himself in at the Fourth Precinct Monday morning and faces a felony charge of leaving the scene of an incident resulting in serious physical injury.

According to police, Charles Giardinello, 40, was riding a motorcycle east on Portion Road, 100 feet east of Avenue B, when his motorcycle was by struck a westbound pickup truck that was attempting to turn left into a parking lot at about 7:25 p.m. Sunday. The truck, driven by O’Neill, then fled the scene northbound on Avenue B, police said.

Giardinello, of Nesconset, is in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital.

O’Neill, 44, voluntarily submitted to a blood test, police said. A physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner obtained the blood sample, which will be analyzed for alcohol and drugs.

O’Neill provided the pickup truck involved in the crash and consented to a search as well as a forensic analysis of the vehicle, police said.

O’Neill is assigned to the Suffolk County Police Department’s Community Response Bureau and has been with the department since 2003. He was suspended without pay following his arrest, police said. He made $135,903 in 2014, according to public records.

O’Neill was arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Monday.