Darrell Fuller trial: Doctor says Nassau cop may have lived a few minutes after 2012 shooting

Nassau Police Officer Arthur Lopez could have survived "a couple of minutes" at most after a gunshot to the left side of his chest pierced his heart and a lung, a doctor testified Monday at the trial of the cop's accused murderer.

Nassau Deputy Medical Examiner Brian O'Reilly said Lopez -- a Babylon Village resident and member of the police department's elite Emergency Service Unit -- bled out internally after the bullet perforated those organs before exiting his back.

Darrell Fuller, 34, of Queens, faces first-degree murder charges in connection with the Oct. 23, 2012, deaths of Lopez, 29, and Raymond Facey, 58, a Brooklyn construction worker.

Prosecutors say Fuller, who had fled from an accident scene, shot Lopez at 241st Street and Jamaica Avenue at the Nassau-Queens border after the officer approached his car with a Taser during a traffic stop.

Fuller then drove his disabled car south on the Cross Island Parkway and shot Facey before escaping in the man's car, according to authorities.

O'Reilly's testimony in Mineola came on the same day that another Nassau deputy medical examiner, Dorota Latuszynski, described the autopsy she performed on Facey.

Jurors saw photos of the wounds suffered by Lopez and Facey, after acting State Supreme Court Justice Jerald Carter warned the panel it could find the images disturbing. Immediate family members of the victims weren't in court.

Latuszynski told jurors Facey had one gunshot to the left side of his chin that exited his body after causing multiple jaw fractures and leaving a metal fragment in his tongue. She also testified about finding a bullet in Facey's brain from a separate gunshot that pierced his face by his left eyebrow.

The doctor said the victim's face also had lacerations because the gun used in the shooting was fired through glass, fragments of which she found in his skin.

Testimony continues Wednesday.