Ex-Cop Sentenced To Prison For Causing Fatal Crash: Report

WEST ISLIP, NY - A former police officer who pleaded guilty to causing a wrong-way fatal crash on Sunrise Highway was sentenced to three to nine years in prison, according to a report in Newsday.

In 2016, Robert Scheuerer, 27, of Farmingdale was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, second degree manslaughter, aggravated DWI and second degree reckless endangerment.

According to police, he was driving his 2000 Nissan Pathfinder eastbound in the westbound lanes on Sunrise Highway when the SUV slammed into a 2016 Ford van just east of Route 231 in West Islip.

The van caught fire, and 37-year-old Brian J. Fusaro, of Bay Shore, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Scheuerer had a blood alcohol content of .17, more than twice the legal limit, over an hour and 14 minutes after the crash, the DA said. There were reports that he drank 10 pints of beer and a margarita at a bar before the crash.

Scheuerer, who was off duty at the time, was seriously injured in the crash resulting in him losing his leg. He was dismissed by the department in January after working as a Suffolk County police officer for a year.

In court on Monday he received his reduced sentence as part of a plea deal for pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide by State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho, Newsday reports.

He also received a combined 3 to 6 years in prison, to be served consecutively, on additional charges including second degree manslaughter, aggravated DWI, second degree reckless endangerment and reckless driving.

"Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it," Scheuerer said, according to Newsday. "Nothing I can say will bring him back, but I will do everything I can to make sure it won’t happen in the future."

He has already been imprisoned since January 2018 while awaiting sentencing.

Read the full report at Newsday.com.