NYS Attorney General won't file charges in 2022 police crash that killed Morris Sprachman

No criminal charges will be filed in connection with a Nassau police crash that killed a 102-year-old Seaford man, the state Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday.

Morris Sprachman died a week after his car collided with a speeding marked Nassau police vehicle driven by Officer Mario Pollio on Dec. 9, 2022, in Massapequa. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ Office of Special Investigation probes all incidents where law enforcement officers may have caused a death.

“Having thoroughly investigated this incident and analyzed the law, OSI concludes that a prosecutor would not be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt at trial that Officer Pollio committed a crime, and closes this matter with the issuance of this report,” the OSI report said.

While no criminality was found, the attorney general's office recommended that the Nassau force equip all its police cars with dashboard cameras that begin recording automatically when the car's emergency lights are engaged, noting that the car Pollio was driving was not equipped with the technology.

A police department spokesman did not respond Tuesday to requests for comment.

The OSI report — which included statements from Sprachman, Pollio and a witness to the crash as well as the body camera video of Pollio and another officer and area surveillance video — said Pollio was driving 62 mph in an area with a 40-mph speed limit with his emergency lights on but without vehicle sirens when Sprachman hit his vehicle.

Pollio had a green light when he drove through an intersection on Hicksville Road, the report said. Sprachman's 2012 Hyundai Elantra turned left into a shopping center as Pollio's police car passed the intersection, striking the police car at 8:23 a.m. Pollio was responding to a call for a teacher experiencing chest pain at Seaford Manor Elementary School, and he told investigators that he did not initiate his sirens because the school had requested a muted response so as not to scare the students, the report said.

Sprachman, who suffered a collapsed right lung, rib fractures and other injuries, died five days after the crash from cardiorespiratory failure due to blunt force trauma to head, torso, and extremities, according to the report, citing a Nassau medical examiner's report, which also ruled his death accidental. The medical examiner cited “other significant conditions” involved in Sprachman's death were hypertensive and arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus.

“The evidence does not establish that Officer Pollio’s speeding was 'dangerous speeding,' ” the OSI report said, referring to an established legal standard. “Responding to a cardiac emergency at a school is an emergency vehicle operation within VTL Section 1104(b) (3), under which speeding without sirens is permissible. Officer Pollio was traveling above the posted speed limit of 40 mph when the collision took place, but the evidence does not show any other culpable conduct. The evidence is that Officer Pollio was driving in the correct lane and there is no evidence he was impaired or distracted. He was speeding but was not going excessively fast, he had the right of way, and he had no reason to anticipate Mr. Sprachman would turn his car into the intersection as he proceeded through.”

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.