By WIL CRUZ
Newsday (New York)
Copyright 2006 Newsday, Inc.
An off-duty Suffolk police officer investigating a “suspicious” vehicle parked near his Middle Island home got an unexpected ride when the vehicle’s driver took off and dragged him into a light pole, authorities said.
Officer Michael Viruet, 33, was recovering yesterday at Stony Brook University Hospital after breaking several ribs as his body was lodged inside the 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix’s window or door during the apparent struggle at 5:40 p.m. on Brian Court Wednesday,
Police arrested the Pontiac’s suspected driver, Geoffrey Butts, 18, of 327 Lake Pointe Dr., also in Middle Island, and charged him with two counts of second-degree assault.
The drama began as Viruet approached Butts’ car after a neighbor told him he spotted the suspicious vehicle in the cul-de-sac. After identifying himself as a police officer, Viruet and Butts argued and Butts took off in his car, dragging Viruet, police said.
“He was unable to free himself as the vehicle started to move,” said Deputy Insp. Frank Stallone, commanding officer of the detective bureau at Suffolk’s Sixth Precinct. “The driver knew he was a police officer, and obviously intended to injure him as he was driving away.”
The car went about 150 feet, Stallone said, before jumping a curb. That’s when Viruet’s body slammed into the fiberglass light pole, police said. The impact broke the pole, they said.
The car, which is registered to Butts’ father, Gregory, then sped off on Middle Country Road, Stallone said. The suspect was arrested at home a short time later, but police were still looking for a passenger in his car, police said.
John Powers, an attorney representing Butts, said his client is innocent and called him a victim who was lost in an unfamiliar neighborhood and didn’t mean to cause any harm.
“My client neither intended to injure anyone nor acted recklessly,” Powers said. “His only intent was to avoid a confrontation.”
Butts, who Powers said has a full-time job and attends Suffolk County Community College full-time, was with an unidentified friend Wednesday trying to find a friend’s house to play basketball prior to the confrontation. When they pulled into Brian Court, an individual - Powers could not say if it was Viruet - confronted Butts and his friend.
Words were exchanged, but neither police nor Powers could provide details yesterday.
Powers said Butts, who has no criminal history, tried to prevent the apparent fight. Still, he would not comment on why - or if - Butts, as he is charged, drove off. Butts was arraigned yesterday at First District Court in Central Islip, where Judge Paul Hensley set a $2,500 cash bail or $5,000 bond. The assault charges Butts is facing are punishable by a maximum of 7 years in prison, according to the Suffolk district attorney’s office.