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Suffolk County Sheriff’s deputies were traveling westbound on the expressway just east of Exit 67 in a marked unit when they say they observed a 2020 Mazda bearing Georgia license plates traveling at a high rate of speed with two male occupants inside on Friday, March 25 at approximately 3:50 p.m.
Deputies stopped the vehicle, and while approaching the vehicle, the vehicle sped away, according to the sheriff's office.
It exited the Long Island Expressway at Exit 65 and crashed into a telephone pole at the corner of Falcon Avenue in Medford.
The front-seat passenger, Edward Smith, age 20, of Yaphank, fed on foot and was apprehended a short distance away, the sheriff's office said.
The driver fled the scene and is still at large, said the sheriff's office.
A quantity of drugs including over 3 grams of fentanyl, over 3 grams of heroin, over 6 grams of crack cocaine, 14 suboxone pills, a small quantity of marijuana, a stun gun, and $3,240 in cash were discovered in the vehicle and on the scene, the sheriff's office said.
Smith was charged with:
- Three counts of possession of a controlled substance in the third degree,
- One count of possession of a controlled substance in the fifth degree.
The vehicle has been impounded and an investigation is ongoing.
"A seemingly straightforward traffic stop for speeding can turn into a dangerous situation for the deputies and the public when the driver attempts to flee," Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. said. "In this case, thankfully no one was seriously injured and deputies took dangerous drugs off the streets.”
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