BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO
Newsday
SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — As a helicopter pilot in the aviation section of the Suffolk County Police Department, Officer Heather Geer has had little opportunity in recent years to pull anyone over.
But she got the chance while she was off-duty Thursday night and found herself chasing after a Mount Sinai chemistry teacher who had just rammed her car.
Geer, 43, said she was driving southbound on Miller Place-Middle Island Road in Miller Place with her 9-year-old daughter on her way from a school function when another car approaching westbound on Whiskey Road “blew through a stop sign” and came right at her.
“I had actually told my daughter, ‘Hold on,’ because I really thought we were going to get blasted,” Geer said. She swerved to avoid the driver but still got clipped on the front left side of her car, Geer said. Neither she nor her daughter were injured.
Geer said the other car kept driving. Partly concerned about public safety, and partly anxious to get the driver’s insurance information, Geer went after him.
“This guy was going to kill somebody. He wasn’t slowing down,” Geer said. “To let this person continue wouldn’t have been proper.”
While pursuing the other driver for about a mile, Geer was on the phone calling 911 for backup. When the driver pulled over, she identified herself as a police officer and held him at bay until a uniformed officer arrived and arrested him.
“He wasn’t going anywhere,” said Geer, who described the driver as obviously drunk and having trouble getting to his feet.
Police identified him as John Bortnowsky, 55, of Miller Place -- a chemistry teacher for the Mount Sinai school district. He had a blood alcohol level more than three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent, police said.
Bortnowsky pleaded not guilty in First District Court in Central Islip Friday to driving while intoxicated. He was released without bail. He did not return a call for comment Friday.
School district officials confirmed that Bortnowsky is suspended with pay following allegations that he sexually harassed a 17-year-old student.
Geer said she is yet to get an estimate on the damage to her brand-new 2007 Nissan Xterra, because she had to come into work Friday, patrolling the skies and leaving car chases and collisions far below her.
“I get to avoid most of the traffic,” she said.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.