DRUG SUSPECT RUNS OVER NARC

A narcotics detective was in serious condition last night after she was run
down by a car driven by a drug suspect she was trying to arrest, police said.

Detective Lydia Lopez, 50, was mowed down as she tried to nab a man who had
allegedly just sold cocaine to an uncover cop during a buy-and-bust
operation in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

After Lopez got out of an unmarked police car and identified herself as a
cop, the suspect jumped in his car and plowed into the detective before
fleeing, cops said.

Lopez -- an 18-year NYPD veteran assigned to the Brooklyn North narcotics
division -- underwent surgery at Bellevue Hospital to repair a broken left
femur and a shattered pelvis.

"It's a bad injury, but she does have a good prognosis," said her surgeon,
Dr. Nirmal Tejwan. "We'll have her up and walking in four or five months,
and back at her job at the end of the year or early next year."

Lopez remained in the hospital last night with her husband, Rene, a retired
correction officer, and three adult children by her side. Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Bloomberg were among the well-wishers
who visited her at Bellevue yesterday.

"This is everyone's worst nightmare," said Lopez's oldest son, Rene
Irizarry Jr., 26, also a correction officer.

"She's tough," he added. "She'll pull through it. We have faith. She's a
very strong woman. She's a fighter."

The incident occurred about 2 a.m. yesterday at Himrod St. and Irving Ave.

Neighbors complained that the street has had a problem with drug dealers in
recent months.

"It's a drug-infested area," said Jose Ortega, 34, a building
superintendent on Irving Ave.

The NYPD said teams of detectives were searching for the suspect, described
as a man in his 20s.