Riverhead police officer hurt when van plows into patrol car on CR 58

A Riverhead police officer was injured when his patrol car was rear-ended on Route 58 yesterday evening.

Police Officer Patryk Loszewski was treated and released by Peconic Bay Medical Center following the crash, Chief David Hegermiller said. He suffered a neck injury.

The officer was stopped in a westbound lane on County Road 58 approaching the light at the entrance to the KingKullen shopping center early yesterday evening, Hegermiller said, when a commercial work van plowed into the back of his cruiser.

“The car took a pretty good shot,” Hegermiller said. The back end of the vehicle “crumpled, like it’s supposed to,” the chief said. The car is out of service and Hegermiller said he was unsure if it could be returned to service.

There were no other injuries in the crash, Hegermiller said.

No arrests were made, he said. “The cause of the accident was likely driver inattention,” Hegermiller said. The owner of the van is A&E Factory Service, a Melville based appliance repair company.

Loszewski, 28, of Riverhead, joined the Riverhead Police Department in December 2012; he was one of five new recruits to join the force that month.

“We’re very fortunate Officer Loszewski was not hurt more seriously,” the chief said.

Other Riverhead officers have been hurt in accidents involving patrol cars in recent years. Officer Charles Schneider was seriously injured in a head-on collision on Sound Avenue in December 2011, when a vehicle being pursued by another police car entered his lane and hit him at a high rate of speed. Veteran Police Officer Emil Breitenbach Sr. was hurt in a head-on collision with a truck on East Main Street in November 2010.

Until yesterday there had been no bad accidents involving police cars recently, though there have been a couple of deer strikes, Hegermiller said.

Editor’s Note: This story has been revised to correct an error in the description of the crash location.