Driver charged with DWI after head-on crash with police officer

A Nassau police officer suffered serious injuries after his vehicle was rammed head-on by a driver who has been charged with DWI.

Police say Willard Gomes, a 12-year veteran of the Nassau County Police Department, was driving north in an unmarked car on Glen Cove Road in Greenvale around 2:25 a.m. when a truck crossed the double yellow line and hit him.

Investigators say the officer was on New Year’s DWI patrol at the time of the crash.

Gomes was listed in serious but stable condition after suffering head injuries, a broken vertebrae, broken arm and leg, as well as a cracked rib and bruised lung.

Keith Dillon, 29 of New Hyde Park, was charged with DWI and vehicular assault in the crash.

“Our cop is going to be in the hospital, [with a] long recovery ahead of him,” said Commissioner Patrick Ryder. “And the individual walked away with an ankle injury."

Dillon has a previous DWI charge from 2015.