NY State Police: Driver Punches Trooper, Good Samaritans Intervene

HEMPSTEAD, NY — A Queens man is accused of punching a state trooper after being pulled over for an expired registration on the Southern State Parkway Thursday.

At 4:18 p.m., the trooper pulled over a Blue Honda Odyssey near Exit 18 for an expired Connecticut registration.

As the trooper approached the vehicle on the passenger side, the operator became combative, police said.

When asked for his driver's license, the man threw it on the ground and then climbed over the passenger seat and out of the minivan, ignoring commands to stay in the car, police said.

The man then punched the trooper in the face, police said. A fight ensued.

Several good Samaritans stopped upon seeing the altercation, and with their assistance the trooper was able to take the driver into custody, police said.

The trooper and the driver, identified as Calith M. Hudson, 33 of Jamaica, NY, were both taken to local hospitals where they were treated and released for non-life threating injuries.

Hudson was transported to SP East Meadow for processing and charged with second-degree assault, a felony; resisting arrest, a misdemeanor; and obstructing governmental administration 2nd, a misdemeanor.

"Every day in law enforcement, there is no such thing as 'a routine traffic stop'," state police officials said in the news release. "In this instance what one may call a “routine” traffic stop, led to a physical altercation and a trooper becoming injured. The New York State Police would like to thank the good Samaritans who stopped to assist in this incident. Highway safety is a partnership between law enforcement and the community at large. If not for the efforts of these good Samaritans, our trooper potentially could have been seriously injured."