A Nassau County cop who had just pulled over a car for drunk driving early Sunday morning was hit by another drunk driver on the Long Island Expressway. Newsday reports 30-year-old police officer Kenneth Baribault "suffered severe head trauma, as well as broken bones in both his upper and lower torso" and underwent surgery for a blood clot.
After pulling over a Kia SUV's for drunk driving, Baribault went back into his patrol car when a Mercedes CLK320 rammed into the patrol car and pushed it into the SUV. From WABC 7:"Witnesses say the back of the police car probably lifted six feet off the ground upon impact. The back of that patrol car almost meets where the driver was sitting. The rear wheel on the driver's side is touching the seat where the driver sits in that patrol car."
Off-duty FDNY firefighter Philip Scarfi was on the LIE when the accident occurred and crossed six lanes of traffic, "[hopped] over a four-foot concrete median" with his emergency kit. Scarfi said Baribault was "unconscious, wedged between the dashboard and front seat and not breathing ...His face was blue." Scarfi said the Mercedes' driver, Rahiem Griffin, offered to help (but the firefighter picked someone else to help stabilize the cop).
Griffin, who was driving with a suspended license, was charged with DWI, as was the Kia's driver, Marcin Bykuc.
