Convicted of assault

A 38-year-old Queens man faces up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault in connection with a pre-dawn high-speed chase last July that left a Rockville Centre police officer severely injured.
Brian Frazier of Jamaica was arrested on July 31, 2008, after a series of events that began when Rockville Centre police received a call at 4:30 that morning reporting a suspicious-looking man wearing a ski cap in the backyard of a home on North Village Avenue, near the corner of Lexington Street. While en route to investigate, police received word that the suspect was in a gold Chrysler heading west on Lexington toward Peninsula Boulevard with its headlights off.
Officers saw the car and attempted to stop it, using lights and sirens. The driver refused to stop, and slowed down only briefly to allow a passenger to jump out and run toward a wooded area on North Village Avenue. That suspect remains at large.
The Chrysler continued on to the northbound lanes of Peninsula Boulevard, nearing the Skelos Sports Complex and traveling at speeds reaching 65 mph. Police said it then intentionally swerved to strike a police cruiser parked on the median, severely injuring the occupant, officer Ernest Ziegler. The impact of the collision drove the engine into the patrol car's passenger compartment and totaled the vehicle. The Chrysler then drove across the southbound lanes and struck a barrier by the park.
Frazier, the driver of the Chrysler, jumped out, started to run and attempted to climb the sports complex fence, according to police. He was pursued by another village police officer, Salvatore Mazza, who eventually caught Frazier and subdued and arrested him, suffering a puncture wound to his right hand and injuries to his foot and right thumb in the process. Ziegler sustained severe neck and spinal injuries that have required spinal fusion surgeries. He has not yet returned to active duty.

Frazier was originally charged with second-degree assault, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years, but the charges were upgraded to first-degree assault, punishable by up to 25 years, after Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice reviewed the case. "I felt strongly that this officer and his colleagues deserved justice," she said in a written statement, "and I was determined to send a message that you can't endanger our neighborhoods or our police officers and get away with it."
Assistant District Attorney Everett Witherell of the County Court Trial Bureau is handling the case for the D.A.'s office. Attorney William Rost is representing Frazier, who will be sentenced by Nassau County Judge Meryl Berkowitz on Sept. 15.

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