New York State Police have launched a criminal investigation of a trooper who claimed he was shot and wounded by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway last week.State police Maj. Stephen Udice, commander of the troop based on Long Island,

The investigation into Thomas Mascia's conduct is "far from over" as investigators continue to piece together what happened, an official said.

The New York State trooper who claimed he was shot during a traffic stop on Long Island last week was suspended without pay — as officials probe whether he lied about the incident, authorities said. Police spent hours searching Trooper Thomas Mascia’s home in West Hempstead on Monday after launching an internal investigation into his account of the Oct.