Officer seriously injured in crash

[Buttercup]

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?se...cal&id=6150486


LONG ISLAND (WABC) -- This morning, moments after a Nassau County police officer pulled over a suspected drunk driver, and another driver rear-ended the officer's police cruiser.

The crash happened on the shoulder of the Long Island expressway near exit 46 in Plainview.

Eyewitness News reporter Carolina Leid is live at Nassau University Medical Center where the officer is tonight.

He was simply doing his job. Officer Kenneth Baribault is out of surgery.

Police say he's in a coma at Nassau University Medical Center and in intensive care with his family by his bedside.

With their heads lowered, officer Kenneth Baribault's family consoled one another on their way out of the hospital this afternoon.

Police say just before six this morning, a suspected drunk driver slammed into the 30-year-old officer's cruiser, ironically he was in the middle of arresting another driver for DWI.

Witnesses tell police the driver of this Mercedes plowed into the police cruiser going more than 75 miles per hour.

"Witnesses say that 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," Detective Lt. Kevin Smith, Nassau County police department, says. "It's a devastating accident."

An unidentified off-duty firefighter witnessed the crash, snatched his emergency kit and sprinted across six lanes of traffic to help.

"Just the kind of act of heroism on the part of the firefighters, he's a really humbled man," a witness says.

A man officer Baribault's family and fellow officers are thankful for and hope made the difference.

The driver who hit the officer's car is in the hospital charged with DWI.

Police say he was driver with a suspended license.
(Copyright ©2008 WABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

[Jenna]

Best wishes for a quick recovery.

[Pudge]

Thoughts and prayers enroute!

[narcodog]

Prayers.

[iso607]

Thoughts and prayers enroute.

[Ducky]

Drunks almost always seem to veer into the flashing lights. Deepest prayers for a speedy and full recovery.

[lewisipso]

I'll bet his criminal history will show more than one DWI. It' usually "ok" and swept under the judicial system as long as no one gets hurt. I doubt the legal system will ever become serious in controling drunk drivers.

[Willowdared]

Thoughts and prayers en-route

[phantasm]

Both the NCPD cop and the off duty FDNY member were former NYPD cops.

[CTR man]

I have been told that there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. Be safe out there guys. My condolences to the injured and their families.

[depusm12]

Prayers and smoke from Kansas .

[PapaBear]

Prayers for a speedy recovery. This might be a good depiction of what the crash looked like:

http://www.robertriley.net/videos/copcrash.wmv

[armsmaster270]

Prayers to the Officer and a medal to the Fire Fighter.

[gozling]

just so awful
thoughts and prayers

[Buttercup]

Here's an update:

Nassau officer injured in crash has pelvic surgery

BY EMERSON CLARRIDGE
Special to Newsday; Staff writer Matthew Chayes contributed to this story.


May 22, 2008


The Nassau police officer critically injured when his cruiser was struck by an alleged drunken driver had surgery yesterday to align his pelvis and fought off a low-grade fever.

Meanwhile his boss, Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey, sounded optimistic as he talked about Officer Kenneth Baribault's recovery.

"I'd say he took a step ahead today, which is a good sign," said Mulvey as he left Nassau University Medical Center, where Baribault has been in a coma since Sunday.

Baribault, 30, was improving "ever so slightly" after the pelvic realignment surgery, Mulvey said, adding that the officer's body temperature lowered yesterday after spiking to a low-grade fever Tuesday night.

"He's still got a long way to go," Mulvey said.

Mulvey said Baribault's parents, who were still at their son's bedside late last night in the intensive care unit, remained "in good spirits."

Baribault was injured as he sat in his cruiser after having pulled over a suspected drunken driver early Sunday. Baribault's cruiser was slammed by a car whose driver police said was drunk.

Court papers filed in the case against the first suspected drunken driver that Baribault had detained describe a chaotic scene as rescuers arrived at the crash.

Inside the officer's mangled car, police found the portable breath test Baribault had just administered to the first driver, Marcin Bykuc, before the second driver, Rahiem Griffin, crashed, according to a police deposition.

Griffin is scheduled to appear in court today on a range of charges related to the case.

Staff writer Matthew Chayes contributed to this story.

Copyright © 2008, Newsday Inc.