It happened around 1:30 p.m. on Narrows Road North and Clifton Avenue in the Grasmere section.
It appears the officer, who patrols the nearby Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, was attempting to make a traffic stop when the cruiser somehow crashed and overturned.
The MTA says the officer was initiating the stop when he may have hit a dip in the roadway and lost control.
People at the house were fixing a car in front and heard the crash, and they say they went running to the backyard and that the officer appeared confused
They said he stated that he couldn't see, and they were able to help him out of the his vehicle.
"Cop was flying down Narrows Road, just lost control, and the next thing you know, the car is upside down in my backyard," resident Tim Revithas said. "Saw some fire, and then saw that the guy was good...so me and another guy, we just helped him, bring him to the front, in case the car blew up."
The officer was taken to Staten Island University Hospital North with non life threatening injuries.
There were no traffic impacts on the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge as a result of the incident.
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