/Newburgh

Police ID motorist in pursuit that shut I-84

State police said they have identified the motorist who led them on a pursuit Tuesday night that ended when she rolled her car over after crashing it into a state police vehicle, resulting in the overnight closing of westbound Interstate 84.

Gloria Lagamina, 26, of Newburgh faces charges including driving under the influence of drugs.


The pursuit began around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday in Westchester County, passed through Putnam and ended early Wednesday in Dutchess, police said.

Troopers from the Somers barracks attempted to stop a 2008 Pontiac with New Jersey plates that Lagamina was driving in Somers late Tuesday for vehicle and traffic violations, police said. She refused to stop, and the troopers initiated a brief pursuit before calling it off due to public-safety concerns. They did radio information on the car and license to surrounding police agencies.

Cortlandt troopers later spotted the car on the Taconic State Parkway in Yorktown and pursued it north onto Interstate 84 west in Dutchess County. While on I-84, Lagamina intentionally drove into several police cruisers that were trying to stop her, police said. She then rammed the rear of a cruiser and lost control of her car, rolling it over, police said.

Lagamina was injured along with three troopers. They were taken by ambulance to St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, where the troopers were treated and were later released. Lagamina was admitted, police said.

The incident shut I-84 west for five hours between Exits 16 and 15 in Dutchess County, just over the Putnam County line.

The pursuit lasted 20 minutes with speeds that approached 85 mph, police said.

Police said they were expecting that Lagamina would be released from the hospital last night and that they planned to charge her with assault, reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and criminal mischief - felonies - plus reckless endangerment of property and driving while ability impaired by drugs, misdemeanors. The car she crashed was a rental, police said.

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