Nassau County cop shot in East Meadow Plaza

A Nassau County police officer was injured and a suspect was killed in the East Meadow Plaza parking lot on Hempstead Turnpike early last Friday morning, police said.

Shortly before 5:30 a.m., an officer from the 1st Precinct entered East Meadow Plaza and approached a man in his early 40s, who was later identified as 41-year-old Dwayne Oxley of East Meadow. Oxley was sitting in a silver Isuzu SUV when something aroused the officer’s suspicion, Nassau County Police Department spokesman Detective Lt. Kevin Smith said at a press conference.

Oxley got out of his vehicle and was talking with the officer when backup assistance was called. When a second officer arrived, Oxley got back into the SUV and locked himself inside.

According to Smith, the two officers managed to remove Oxley from the vehicle, possibly by breaking a window, and Oxley and the first officer struggled for the officer’s .40-caliber gun, which discharged, hitting the officer in the left leg.

“The second officer at that scene, while this was occurring, found an opportunity to try to stop the suspect,” said Smith, adding that the officer shot Oxley in the upper torso two or three times from four or five feet away during the struggle.

The first officer underwent surgery on the femur in his left leg at Nassau University Medical Center. The injury was not life-threatening, Smith said. The officer’s parents and fiancée were at the hospital. He was released on Tuesday.

The second officer, who was not injured, was also taken to NUMC, where he was treated for trauma.

“There had been some problems in this area, and officers were directing their patrol here,” Smith explained. “This is a spot where there is some late-night activity and early-morning activity. Some cars were being broken into. The officers were intensifying their patrol in this area, and one of the officers came upon this individual at this location.”

Though he did not identify either officer, Smith said that both are patrol officers in the 1st Precinct, are in their early 30s and have been on the force for four or five years.

“I’m assuming it’s a local guy,” said Peter Bruce, manager of Frantonis Pizzeria and Ristorante, before the suspect was identified. Bruce said he saw the silver Isuzu at East Meadow Plaza in the morning a few times per week.

Bruce, who arrived at work at around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, said he saw Oxley’s body covered by a white sheet before it was removed from the scene.

Frantonis Pizzeria has 12 security cameras, but none captured the incident. The only image they recorded was of the first officer driving past the pizzeria and turning left toward Oxley’s vehicle.

An East Meadow resident for more than 40 years who lives on Bright Avenue with her husband, a retired New York City police officer, said she heard gun shots from her home. “I heard four shots and he heard six,” said the woman, who declined to be identified.

The woman said she was awake when the incident took place, but her husband was awakened by the gunshots.

Businesses in East Meadow Plaza were allowed to open at about 11:30 a.m. on Friday. Detectives said the investigation is on-going.