Cops: Suspect Fleeing Officers Caused Crash

A man who has been arrested more than 53 times since 1990 led police officers on a car chase Friday night that ended with him and another driver going to the hospital, according to Southampton Village police.

Det. Sgt. Herman Lamison said patrol officers were on a drug stakeout in the Hillcrest Avenue area around 9 p.m. when they tried to pull over Joseph L. Coffey, 51, of Southampton, who was driving a 1991 BMW.

Coffey fled and officers chased his vehicle from West Prospect Street to Hill Street, where he drove west in the eastbound lane, Lamison said. Coffey tried to pass a 2005 Ford Escape but struck the SUV and sent it into privet hedges, according to Lamison, who said Coffey then spun out of control into a tree.

The Southampton Fire Department extricated the driver of the Escape from the vehicle and Southampton Village Volunteer Ambulance took him to Southampton Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Coffey suffered a broken femur and was also taken to Southampton Hospital.

Police released a photograph of a knife, prescription pills, marijuana and other contraband said to be Coffey's.


Coffey was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and in the fifth degree, both felonies. Police also leveled a number of misdemeanor charged against Coffey: seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving, first-degree loitering, third-degree assault, unlawfully fleeing from a police officer, second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and fourth degree criminal mischief. He was additionally charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, which is a violation, and he was issued 11 traffic tickets, police said.

Police said he was arraigned Saturday morning and remanded without bail to the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.

Southampton Town, New York State and Stony Brook University police assisted in the arrest.