Police Commish: Take Due Care When Driving

Nassau County Highway Patrolman Joseph P. Olivieri was remembered by Police Benevolent Association President James Carver as being a “cheerful guy, loved by everybody, going to be missed by all.”

The 43-year-old Ronkonkoma native and 19-year veteran of law enforcement was killed early Thursday morning while responding to an accident on the Long Island Expressway when he was struck by an oncoming car.

As Nassau County mourns the loss of one of its own, Garden City police commissioner Kenneth Jackson asked residents to take "due care" while driving.

"A heavy portion of an officer's job is traffic enforcement and auto accidents. Next to domestic it's the most dangerous thing we can do," he said.

"Please take due care when you're driving your vehicles and be mindful of the officers when they are doing their duties because they are sometimes putting their lives at risk because they have to pay attention to the people they're aiding and may not be able to pay attention to the traffic around them."

Mayor Don Brudie reminded residents of New York's Move Over Law. "You're supposed to move to the extreme left. If you can go more than one lane, go more than one lane," he said. "If there's only one lane you're supposed to slow down."

Brudie called the officer's death "inexcusable."

"It's terrible that something like that happened," he said.

Olivieri spent five years with the NYPD before joining the Nassau County Police Department in 1998 and becoming a member of the highway patrol in 2005.

With Geoffrey Walter


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