A Queens man has admitted to shooting at a Nassau County police officer during a high speed chase that began in Hempstead and ended in a crash in East Meadow.
Damon Banner pleaded guilty Tuesday at Nassau County court to second-degree attempted murder in exchange for a sentence of 16 years in prison.
Prosecutors said the 26-year-old St. Albans man initially fled when he was approached by two officers who questioned why was approaching a man from behind on Nov. 7, 2011.
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Banner ran through several backyards before fleeing in a waiting Chevrolet Malibu driven by 29-year-old Ayanna Zellner of Freeport, who allegedly took off while police were in pursuit, prosecutors said.
Banner sat on the sill of the passenger window of the fleeing vehicle and fired about four shots at the pursuing officer’s vehicle from a Hi-Point .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun, but missed.
Authorities said Zellner then drove around a police roadblock on Hempstead Turnpike and got on the Meadowbrook State Parkway, which was closed for a police investigation into a fatal crash.
Zellner crashed into one of the vehicles involved in the earlier crash and then hit the center median.
He and Banner were arrested at the scene. Police said they found stolen credit cards and a large amount of stolen mail in the car.
Zellner’s case is pending. Banner will be sentenced Aug. 8.
