New York State Police have launched a criminal probe into a trooper who claimed he was shot and wounded by an unknown gunman on a Long Island highway last week.

The trooper, Thomas Mascia, 27, was suspended without pay this week, New York State Police Major Stephen Udice said at a press briefing on Wednesday. He said the agency was conducting both criminal and internal investigations into the circumstances of the shooting that Mascia reported as happening around 11:45 p.m. last Wednesday.

Authorities have launched an internal investigation in the case of a New York State trooper who said he was shot by a suspect on Long Island's Southern State Parkway last week, authorities said Monday.

New York State Police are looking into the credibility of Trooper Thomas Mascia's claim he was shot last week on Long Island.

A New York State Police trooper who claimed he was shot on a roadway in the region has been sidelined amid doubts about his story. On Long Island, trooper Thomas Mascia, age 27, was suspended without pay and stripped of his agency-issued service weapon,