Incident location, Long Island
What Happened
Cody B. Fisher, 29, of Brentwood pleaded guilty Thursday to charges relating to a January crash on the Long Island Expressway that critically injured Suffolk Police Officer Brendon Gallagher, according to Newsday. Fisher accepted a plea deal for a 10-year prison sentence during a hearing before Suffolk Supreme Court Justice John B. Collins in Riverhead.
Fisher admitted that he was driving up to 100 mph before the Jan. 5 crash and had been weaving in and out of traffic on the Long Island Expressway, prosecutors said. He also acknowledged that he had been drinking and smoking marijuana before the wreck that left Officer Gallagher fighting for his life. Fisher pleaded guilty to assault on a police officer, second-degree assault and four other crimes outlined in a 10-count indictment.
On Jan. 5, Gallagher was involved in a routine traffic stop on the Long Island Expressway when Fisher sped by at more than 100 mph, prosecutors said. Gallagher, a member of a unit created to combat illegal street racing, attempted to stop Fisher. Fisher’s 2021 Ford Mustang struck Gallagher’s police vehicle, causing it to flip on its side and hit a tree.
Fisher’s blood alcohol content was 0.06% several hours after the near-fatal crash, and THC was also detected in his blood, prosecutors said. The legal blood alcohol limit in New York State is 0.08%. Fisher had been seen drinking at a Holtsville restaurant earlier in the day. His breath and car smelled like marijuana when he was arrested, and his eyes were glassy, prosecutors said in January.
Eric Besso of Sayville, one of Fisher’s attorneys, said Fisher is remorseful for the crash. “It wasn’t his real intention to hurt Police Officer Gallagher, and he wishes the best for him,” Besso said. However, Besso also claimed that Gallagher’s conduct contributed to the crash, saying the officer followed Fisher at a high rate of speed and tried to get Fisher to pull over. “The cop was very aggressive in his driving,” Besso said. “I wouldn’t say it is his fault, but he was very aggressive in his driving.”
Location & Road Context
The crash occurred on the Long Island Expressway, where Fisher was weaving in and out of traffic at speeds exceeding 100 mph before striking Officer Gallagher’s patrol vehicle. The LIE has 126 recorded incidents in the Long Island Traffic database, with recent incidents including various roadwork and construction activities.
Investigation & Legal Proceedings
Fisher was on probation at the time of the crash for a weapons charge stemming from a 2021 Queens road rage incident and faced a seven-year sentence for violating probation. Collins told Fisher on Wednesday that he faced up to 22 years in prison if the sentences ran consecutively. Fisher originally faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the indictment.
Fisher had pleaded not guilty to the crimes outlined in the indictment during a Jan. 17 arraignment in Riverhead. Collins pushed prosecutors and Fisher’s attorneys, Peter Mayer of Hauppauge and Eric Besso, to reach a tentative plea deal during a Wednesday hearing. The judge was clearly exasperated that the parties had not discussed a potential agreement since the last hearing three weeks earlier. Jury selection could have begun as early as next week if Fisher had not accepted the plea agreement.
Collins ordered Fisher, who will remain in custody, to return to court on Oct. 21 for sentencing. Besso called the 10-year sentence “a little harsh” but added, “It could have been way harsher and way worse if we went to trial and were to lose.”
Broader Impact
“Our community wants to see an end to people treating our shared roadways like personal racetracks,” Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said. “It’s by the grace of God that Officer Gallagher was not killed. It is because of cases like this that my office holds defendants to the highest levels of accountability for impaired or reckless driving.”