Long Island man who spent the night at local precinct dies in police custody: officials

Matthew Euzarraga
·1 min read
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LONG ISLAND (PIX11) –  A Long Island man who died in police custody on Friday morning has led to an investigation by homicide detectives and Internal Affairs Bureau, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

On Thursday at 5:30 p.m., Joseph Leonard, a 58-year-old man from West Islip, was driving a 2016 Jeep Wrangler when he rear-ended another car while stopped at a red light. When police arrived at the scene at Pine Aire Drive and Fifth Avenue in Brentwood, they found Leonard unconscious behind the wheel of his vehicle, police said.

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Officers performed first aid and administered Narcan. Leonard was then arrested and transported to South Shore University via EMS, where he was treated and released into police custody, officials said.

Leonard was charged with driving while impaired by drugs and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, arrest records show.

Leonard was also issued a summons for driving with a revoked license and held overnight at the third precinct in Bay Shore, N.Y. On Friday morning, when officers were preparing to transport Leonard to court, he was observed not breathing in his cell, police said.

First aid was administered, but Leonard was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials stated that the New York State Attorney General’s office and the State Department of Correction were notified and responded to the scene.

Leonard’s cause of death will be determined by an autopsy from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.

It is unclear how long Leonard was not breathing or how long he was left unsupervised.

Matthew Euzarraga is a multimedia journalist from El Paso, Texas. He has covered local news and LGBTQIA topics in the New York City Metro area since 2021. He joined the PIX11 Digital team in 2023. You can see more of his work here.

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