Frazier sentenced to 13 years

A judge sentenced Brian Frazier to 13 years in prison and five years of supervised probation in connection with an early morning, high-speed chase on Peninsula Boulevard in July 2008 that severely injured Rockville Centre Police Officer Ernest Ziegler.

The sentence was handed down on Dec. 11.

Police said Frazier, 38, of Jamaica, Queens, intentionally swerved his car into the police cruiser that Ziegler had parked on the median of Peninsula Boulevard. The incident occurred as Frazier was being chased by Ziegler's fellow officers in response to reports of a suspicious-looking man wearing a ski cap in the backyard of a home on N. Village Avenue near the corner of Lexington Street, police said.

Reaching speeds police estimated at up to 65 mph, the impact of the collision caused neck and spinal injuries to Ziegler, who has not been able to return to active duty since the incident. The cruiser was totaled.

Ziegler, who says he’s been in constant pain since the incident, has been told by doctors that he may require more surgery. Another village officer, Salvatore Mazza, was also injured as he caught and arrested Frazier, who attempted to flee by climbing the fence of the Skelos sports complex. An alleged accomplice jumped out of the car Frazier was driving and has yet to be apprehended.

Following the incident, Frazier was charged with second-degree assault, carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. When Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice’s office received the case, she decided to pursue an upgraded charge of first-degree assault, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years, against Frazier.

In September 2008, a grand jury agreed. But this past September, when Frazier was to scheduled to receive an 11-year jail sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, Judge Meryl Berkowitz said she could no longer offer him the deal, after learning the extent of Ziegler's injuries. The judge was reacting to information she had received in a letter-writing campaign that Ziegler and his wife initiated, in an attempt to persuade her to be tougher on

Frazier.

"I think that the DA's office did a great job, and we are satisfied with the deal," said Ziegler's wife, Teresa in an e-mail statement the day before the Dec. 11 sentencing.

Everett Witherell and Matthew Connolly of the County Court Trial Bureau handled the case for the DA’s office. The defendant was represented by William Rost, Esq.

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