Drunk Man Who Killed Cop in Commack Goes Free

A drunken Plainview man who plowed into a patrol car and was freed from an upstate prison Monday.

Jose Borbon was originally sentenced to 1 1/2 - 4 years on the charge of first-degree vehicular manslaughter and one year for driving while intoxicated for causing the fiery crash that claimed the live of Suffolk Officer Glen Ciano.

Borbon, a father of two, spent two years and eight months imprisoned, including nine months in the Gowanda medium security state prison in Western New York. He was credited with time served in the Suffolk County Jail awaiting his trial and sentencing. He'll remain on probation for some time.

Ciano was responding to a call for help from a fellow officer when Borbon's Dodge Magnum smashed into Ciano's vehicle, sending it careening into a utility pole and exploding into flames on Feb. 22, 2009. The crash occurred on the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway near Commack Road in Commack.

State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle issued the orginal sentence, the result of a plea deal. Borbon could have faced considerably more jail time -- perhaps 10 years -- if the case went to trial. At the sentencing, Ciano's daughter, Samantha, who cried openly during the proceedings, said "Overnight I lost the man who always made me feel safe and loved...the man who always inspired me," she said.

"This is a horrible consequence of this man's selfish act."

The Suffolk County PBA posted a News 12 video on YouTube here.