State names part of Jericho Turnpike for slain Nassau officer

State officials are honoring slain Nassau police Officer Arthur Lopez by renaming a Jericho Turnpike bridge after him.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation Thursday that renames the bridge, which spans the Cross Island Parkway near Exit 27E in Bellerose, as Police Officer Arthur Lopez Memorial Bridge.

The bridge lies on the Nassau-Queens border, near where Lopez, 29, was killed in October 2012.

Lopez, of Babylon, and his partner were pursuing Darrell Fuller, 35, of Queens, after Fuller fled the scene of an accident. When Lopez approached Fuller's stopped car at 241st Street and Jamaica Avenue in Queens, Fuller shot him in the chest.

After a two-month trial, Fuller was sentenced to life in prison without parole in September 2014.

The killing reverberated in the Long Island law enforcement community, with more than 2,000 mourners attending Lopez's wake.

"Heroes like Arthur Lopez, who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, must never be forgotten," Sen. Jack M. Martins (R-Mineola), who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.

James Carver, president of the Nassau Police Benevolent Association, called the bridge dedication "a permanent reminder to everyone that police work is dangerous work. As long as people remember him, Artie Lopez will never die."

Lopez's sister and parents could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Cuomo also signed legislation renaming two sections of state highways in central New York in honor of law enforcement officers.

Part of Route 481 in DeWitt was named after Deputy Sheriff Glenn Searles, who was struck and killed by a vehicle while on duty during a snowstorm in 2003. A portion of Interstate 81 in Chenango was renamed Trooper Christopher G. Skinner Memorial Bridge, after a trooper who was fatally struck by a vehicle while issuing a traffic ticket last year.