Officer Collins, Wounded in Huntington Station, Released from Hospital

Suffolk Police Officer Mark Collins, who was shot in Huntington on Wednesday, March 11, was released from Stony Brook University Hospital Sunday afternoon.

Collins, 35, had been in drug-induced coma at the hospital, following two gunshot wounds while on duty in Huntington Station. By Thursday evening he was conscious and responsive, police told Patch.

On Sunday, police officers and department staff gathered around Collins as he left Stony Brook Hospital to continue his recovery at home.

From his wheelchair, Collins greeted the crowd with a wave and a thumbs-up, Newsday reported. He also stood on his own to go from the wheelchair to an awaiting car. Among his many supporters, including Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, was Officer Nicholas Guerrero, who had been injured in a hit-and-run allegedly by two Northport residents in October.

Assigned to the Second Precinct Crime Section Gang Unit, Collins was in an unmarked police vehicle late Wednesday when he pulled over a car with four people inside. As Collins and two other officers approached the vehicle, a man inside the car got out and confronted Collins, shooting the 12-year veteran twice, once in the neck and once in the hip, police said.

The alleged shooter, Sheldon Leftenant, of Huntington Station, was charged with attempted aggravated murder and resisting arrest.