Steve Lieberman

slieberm@lohud.com

Liam Russell%2C 19%2C is accused of dragging cop 40 yards while driving drunk

The officer was treated at Nyack Hospital for neck%2C back and arm injuries and later released

An Orangetown officer was injured Wednesday morning when a drunken driver from Blauvelt dragged him 40 yards down a road, police said.

The officer was hanging out the driver's side window, struggling to turn off the ignition, as 19-year-old Liam Russell sped toward Blauvelt Road from Truman Circle and Wilson Street at 7:10 a.m., Orangetown Police Lt. Anthony Mercurio said.

The officer eventually fell out of the 2001 Toyota Camry, tumbling along the ground, Mercurio said. He suffered back, neck and arm injuries.

Russell continued to speed off, followed by another officer, before driving onto the lawn of a Blauvelt Road home, Mercurio said. That officer took Russell into custody after using a Taser on him during a struggle, Mercurio said.

The incident began when the officer found Russell parked with a gash across his right eye, Mercurio said. The officer attempted to take Russell out of the car and to the hospital, but Russell hit the gas pedal instead, Mercurio said.

The officer and Russell were both treated at Nyack Hospital and released.

Russell was arraigned Wednesday in Orangetown Town Court, where he was charged with second-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment, felonies. He also is charged with second-degree obstruction of governmental administration, resisting arrest, driving while intoxicated and reckless driving, all misdemeanors. He was taken to the Rockland County jail on $20,000 bail.

Russell, a former Tappan Zee High School baseball player, was already facing charges from June 3, when Clarkstown police accused him of stealing a purse with $300 from a woman at the Stiletto strip club on Route 59 in Nanuet. In that case, he faces fourth-degree grand larceny, a felony, and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and resisting arrest, misdemeanors.

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