Guilty plea in crash that injured Old Westbury cop, officials say

A young motorist pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges Thursday after his arrest last year for hitting an Old Westbury police officer and driving away before authorities said a civilian witness chased him down, officials said.

Benjamin Zavala, 20, is expected to get three years of probation at his October sentencing, according to his lawyer and the Nassau District Attorney’s Office.

The Uniondale man pleaded guilty in Hempstead District Court to third-degree assault and leaving the scene of a crash involving injury, prosecutors confirmed Friday.

“He had no intent to hurt anyone, especially a police officer,” Zavala’s attorney, Meir Moza, told Newsday on Friday. “… My client made no excuses and took responsibility for his actions.”

Then 19, Zavala was driving himself and a co-worker to their job site when authorities said the hit-and-run happened at about 6 a.m. on Sept. 1, 2021, near the intersection of Glen Cove and I.U. Willets roads in Old Westbury.

Zavala, then a sophomore at New York Institute of Technology with no criminal record, didn’t realize he had hit someone on the dark road and “panicked” after his passenger suggested he might have and stopped at a gas station, Moza said after Zavala’s 2021 arraignment.

The crash left Officer Matthew Martines with head, neck and back injuries, according to court records. Law enforcement officials described his injuries at the time as serious but not life-threatening.

Police said the officer had been investigating a separate, single-car crash that had occurred near the intersection at 5:15 a.m. when Zavala’s sport utility vehicle hit him.

Hit-and-run witness Lenny Rivera owned the vehicle involved in the earlier crash and had arrived at the scene in a separate car before stopping in the right northbound lane of Glen Cove Road, according to authorities.

Zavala was driving across the intersection in his red 2020 Nissan Rogue when his front passenger-side mirror and window hit Martines after Zavala tried to change lanes to avoid striking Rivera’s car, court records said.

Rivera’s uncle, a fellow crash witness, told police Martines “looked like he flew through the air about seven to eight feet.”

Police said Zavala didn’t stop his SUV or call 911 after hitting the officer and continued driving north on Glen Cove Road.

That’s when Lenny Rivera — along with his uncle — drove after Zavala, honking and directing him to pull over, which Zavala ultimately did at a Glen Cove Road gas station, according to previous allegations in court records.

Rivera, a car salesman from Queens, told Newsday last year his instinct was “to track this guy down, whatever means necessary.”

Police, who arrested Zavala at the gas station, said previously that they generally discourage civilians from taking actions against alleged hit-and-run drivers.

Nassau District Attorney's Office spokesman Brendan Brosh said Friday that prosecutors "wish Officer Martines the very best as he continues to recuperate from his injuries."

He added that Martines "was struck by a speeding vehicle and launched into the air" but Zavala was stopped nearly two miles away "thanks to the actions of a Good Samaritan."