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NY Officer Rescues Driver, Then Realizes He's a Neighbor

COMMACK, N.Y. (AP) — When an off-duty police officer on New York's Long Island made a hospital visit to a driver he'd rescued from a highway crash, the two realized their paths had crossed before.

Turns out Suffolk County Police Officer James Brucculeri and motorist Robert Malinowski live about two blocks from each other in Kings Park.

Brucculeri said at a news conference Friday that he was driving home from National Guard duty Wednesday when he saw car wrecked on the Sagtikos Parkway's center divider near Exit S1, in Commack.

The 59-year-old Malinowski had gone into cardiac arrest while driving, and he was turning blue. Brucculeri pulled him from the car with help from other passers-by, including Central Islip-Hauppauge Volunteer Ambulance Corps EMT Alexa Bracco.

Brucculeri visited Malinowski in the hospital Friday.

 

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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