Officers save one of their own
Published: October 10, 2006
The eyes of Nassau police officers Daniel Ciaccio and Samuel Ferrandino widened as they said they watched an alleged drunken driver slam into a fellow officer’s marked cruiser, pinning him and causing the crumpled patrol car to burst into flames.
Ciaccio, Ferrandino and other officers were responding to an unrelated disturbance call when the crashed occurred in East Meadow about 10:17 p.m. Sunday. The fast-acting officers pulled their comrade from the burning car.
“It felt like forever, but it was only about two minutes,” Ferrandino said yesterday.
The injured officer, Thomas Costello, and the driver, Rashel Geiman, 57, were being treated for what police said are non-life-threatening injuries at Nassau University Medical Center.
Geiman, of 1751 John St., Merrick, was charged with driving while intoxicated. She was northbound in her 2004 Nissan Sentra on Merrick Avenue when she made a left turn in front of Costello, who was traveling southon the road with flashing lights and a siren.
The two collided. After the impact, Costello’s car struck a tree and Geiman’s car stopped against a fence about 20 yards away, police said.
Ciaccio, 24, and Ferrandino, 32, were following Costello a few yards behind at the time of the crash.
Ciaccio tended to Geiman, while Ferrandino tried to reach an unconscious Costello. “I told him I was there and not to move,” Ferrandino said.
Once inside the car, Ferrandino placed his head against Costello’s and tried to keep it from moving. With his back turned, Ferrandino hadn’t noticed the fire building under the hood.
“I heard other officers yelling, the car’s going up and that it was on fire,” he said.
After Ciaccio knew Geiman was OK, he ran to help his partner.
As a precaution, Ciaccio said he was not going to “move him until we noticed that fire. Things happened pretty quickly.”
The officers lowered the driving seat, ripped the backseat cushion out for more room and pulled Costello from the car with help from responding officers Joe Angelino and Michael Morgan. They placed him on a stretcher brought by ambulance workers who arrived minutes after the crash.
A fifth rescuing officer, Michael Leone, used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
While being loaded into the ambulance, Costello moaned. Ferrandino tried to comfort him. “I kept saying that everything was going to be OK,” he said.
Ciaccio and Ferrandino stayed with Costello at the hospital until early yesterday. They said he was better and smiling, despite a broken foot and concussion. He was listed in stable condition yesterday, police said.
Geiman, who could not be reached for comment, was also listed in stable condition, they said.
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