Wild Chase on LIE Ends in Plainview Crash, Suspect Charged

A Levittown man was arrested in Plainview Tuesday after leading Suffolk police on a wild chase along the Long Island Expressway.

According to Suffolk County Sheriff Chief Michael Sharkey, 23-year-old William Girardin was initially stopped by a Suffolk County deputy sheriff at exit 55 of the eastbound side of the Long Island Expressway. As a deputy sheriff exited his vehicle, police said Girardin pulled back onto the expressway, exited the LIE at exit 56 and turned around to the westbound side of the expressway.

A chase ensued until the suspect exited at Sunnyside Boulevard (Exit 46, in Plainview). While on the service road, Girardin attempted to slip his vehicle between two others at a stoplight, Sharkey said. But those two vehicles were too close together and Girardin sideswiped both of them, Sharkey said.

Girardin was taken into custody soon after.

Girardin possessed marijuana and oxycodone at the time, according to police. He is facing charges of driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving, unlawfully fleeing a police officer, unlawful possession of marijuana and seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

According to Sharkey, there was one other passenger in Girardin's vehicle. Of the two cars that were sideswiped, one contained a woman with her two daughters and the other contained an adult female.

No one was injured in the incident.