By MICHAEL BALSAMO
A New York man serving a life sentence in prison for killing a Long Island police officer during a traffic stop and then fatally shooting a motorist as he fled the scene in 2012 died earlier this month in a maximum-security state prison, officials said Monday.
Darrell Fuller was pronounced dead on Dec. 9 at the Elmira Correctional Facility, according to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. Authorities did not provide additional information about the circumstances that led to Fuller’s death but said he had received emergency medical attention before he was pronounced dead.
Investigators were still waiting to review the results of an autopsy, but Fuller’s death is “not considered suspicious,” State Police spokesman Beau Duffy said. The state police investigate deaths in state prisons that do not appear to be from natural causes or a known medical condition.
Fuller, 40, of Queens, was convicted in 2014 for the killing of Nassau County Police Officer Arthur Lopez and a motorist, Raymond Facey. Lopez and his partner saw Fuller’s car collide with a van in Queens in October 2012 before Fuller, who was on parole and carrying a loaded gun, drove off in the damaged car.
He led the officers on a pursuit before he stopped near the Belmont racetrack and Fuller opened fire, fatally shooting Lopez on the side of the road. Authorities said Fuller then tried to carjack Facey, who had stopped along the side of the road to make a phone call. He shot Facey in the head and stole the car, authorities said.
Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said her thoughts were with Lopez and Facey’s families and Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the entire department would always keep the families in their thoughts and prayers after Fuller stole their lives by “murdering both men in cold blood.”
“As far as Darrell Fuller goes, I will not give him a second thought as he showed no regard for life,” Ryder said in a statement. “Good riddance.”
Fuller’s death was first reported by Newsday.
