An NYPD cop who was a star player on the department’s football team was killed early today when a commercial truck smashed into his pickup on the Long Island Expressway, officials said.
Off-duty Officer Joseph Pritchard, 30, of North Babylon, LI, had inexplicably stopped his vehicle in the right lane of westbound traffic at Exit 51 in Dix Hills at around 2:30 a.m. when it was struck from behind, Suffolk County police said.
Both Pritchard’s 2008 Dodge and the 2001 International box truck that hit it burst into flames.
An eight-year veteran of the Midtown South Precinct and a top defensive end for the NYPD football team, Pritchard was pronounced dead inside his charred vehicle.
The truck driver, Eduardo Garcia, 34, was taken to Huntington Hospital and treated for nonlife-threatening injuries. He was not expected to be cited in the crash.
Pritchard was unmarried and childless.
“He played starting defensive end. He was a phenomenal ball player, an unbelievable athlete and all-around great guy,” a grieving fellow gridder Told The Post. “I played with him for seven years. I can’t say enough good things about him. This is really hard.”
Additional reporting by Kirstan Conley