By Joan Gralla
Newsday
NASSAU, N.Y. — Finally, two months after a driver broadsided his car on Woodbury Road, a gravely injured Nassau police commander soon will get to walk away.
The recovery achieved by Second Precinct Commanding Officer Inspector Robert Psoinas is nothing short of miraculous, said physicians Thursday at Nassau University Medical Center.
Psoinas spent almost two months in intensive care at the East Meadow hospital after his black 2010 Ford Crown Victoria was struck by a car on Sept. 23 in Woodbury, authorities said.
Psoinas, seated in a wheelchair, one hand clasped by his surgeon, thanked all the medical staff for making the celebration of his discharge from the hospital possible. The event included bagpipes, four mounted officers and about 100 police and medical staff.
Upon waking from a coma four or five days after the crash, he said: “In a short time I realized they saved my life ... the care here has been really outstanding and I thank them so much.”
“They were my team. They were my life,” Psoinas said.
Police presented his doctors with two plaques to recognize their service. In turn, doctors noted how much the officer’s recovery from what one called extensive abdominal damage was due to his own determination and strength.
Saluting “all the fight he has in him,” Dr. Kelley Sookraj, whose hand he’d held a few moments earlier, said: “It is very satisfying to see him. He’s come such a long way to be sure.”
Psoinas’ daughter Megan, 25, who is expected to join the Nassau police department’s next class of recruits, and her mother were on hand.
“It’s the family supporting the patient, the optimism, the patient needs,” said Dr. George Angus, the hospital’s director of trauma.
Acting police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said the department knew Psoinas “was going to be in the best possible hands” at NUMC.
Several officers said the celebration Psoinas’ recovery was “bittersweet” because it occurred just a few hours after the NYPD buried Sgt. Paul Tuozzolo, who was shot to death in the line of duty last Friday.
Psoinas’ injuries included bone fractures but, his surgeon said, he could be walking within a few weeks. A scar on the back of his skull bore witness to the trauma he suffered, his doctors said, adding his body bears many other scars.
The inspector had a green light while driving north on Yukon Drive when a 2010 Volkswagen Jetta, heading east on Woodbury Road, smashed into his unmarked car, officials said.
The impact of the early afternoon crash shattered his windshield and caused the air bags to deploy.