DA: Driver who hit postal worker with car faces upgraded charges

A Deer Park man arrested in April after authorities said he struck and seriously injured a mail carrier with his car was indicted Tuesday on additional, upgraded charges, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

The indictment against Stefano Belloisi, 51, was unsealed by State Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho, and included two upgraded charges: one count of second-degree assault and one count of second-degree vehicular assault, both felonies, a spokeswoman for Spota’s office said.

Belloisi, of John Place, also faces charges of reckless driving, driving while ability impaired on drugs or alcohol and criminal possession of a controlled substance, court records show.

He pleaded not guilty and was being held in the county jail in lieu of a $200,000 cash bail or $400,000 bond, the spokeswoman added. Belloisi is due back in court on June 14, court records show.

According to a news release issued by Spota’s office, Belloisi was driving a 1998 Lincoln Continental westbound on Prairie Drive in North Babylon on April 11 when he veered off the road and struck the mail carrier, his postal truck, a hydrant and a telephone pole.

The mail carrier, a 40-year-old Bayport man, was not in his vehicle at the time he was struck. He remains hospitalized at Stony Brook University Hospital, the release said.