Suffolk County Police Seventh Squad detectives are investigating a car crash in Rocky Point that killed a Mount Sinai man yesterday morning.
Jeffrey Kitz of Mount Sinai was driving his 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer south on County Road 21, approximately one-and-a-half miles south of Route 25A, when he lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle crossed the northbound lane and crashed into the woods. Kitz, 40, was pronounced dead at the scene by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner.
The vehicle was impounded for a safety check, and the investigation is ongoing.
A 20-year-old man was walking across Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station on Wednesday night when he was hit by a car. He was transported to Huntington Hospital with serious head injuries.
The victim was walking north across Jericho Turnpike at the intersection of Oakwood Road when he was struck by a 2007 Lexus that was driving east on Jericho Turnpike last night at approximately 9 p.m.
The 20-year-old was transported to the hospital by Huntington Community First Aid Squad and was later transferred to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset. The name of the pedestrian is being withheld pending notification of the family.
The driver of the Lexus, Gerard Marrone, 42, of Huntington Station, was transported to Huntington Hospital with minor injuries.
The vehicle was impounded for safety checks and Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are investigating the crash. Anyone with information on the crash is asked to contact the Second Squad at 631-854-8252.
Police assisted a Commack man on Sunday afternoon after he could not get back onto his boat and was struggling in the water in the Long Island Sound, a mile and a half north of Eaton’s Neck Point.
At about 4:30 p.m. on July 12, police said Russell Giannotti and his wife Kim Giannotti anchored their boat to fish when their fishing line became tangled in the boat’s propeller. Giannotti, 63, went overboard to clear the tangled line. When he attempted get back on the boat, his boarding ladder broke and he became stranded in the water. His wife threw him a life jacket and a rope but he was unable to put the life jacket on while in the water — although he was able to hold on to it for flotation. The Commack resident ended up becoming entangled in the rescue rope and started to struggle in the water.
A passing boater observed Giannotti in distress and called 911. The boater was unable to assist due to choppy sea conditions, but was able to give the victim’s location to police dispatchers. Two Marine Bureau vessels, a Suffolk County Police helicopter, the U.S. Coast Guard and Huntington Harbormaster Marine 3 responded to the search area.
Marine Bureau Section Officers Christopher DeFeo and Anthony Sangimino responded in Marine Bravo and were the first rescuers on scene. They were directed to the victim’s location via Marine VHF radio by the nearby boater, and once they positioned their boat close to Russell, they threw him a life ring, and pulled him aboard the Marine Bravo. On board, the officers treated him for exposure and transported him to the Soundview Boat Ramp in Northport, where they were met by rescue personnel from the Northport Fire Department. Giannotti refused medical attention for exposure and minor abrasions.
Huntington Harbormaster Marine 3 took the victim’s boat in tow. The victim was eventually reunited with his boat and his wife, and both were able to return to Huntington Harbor, on their boat, without assistance.
A 40-year-old woman from Huntington Station was shot on Wednesday, July 6 just before 11:30 p.m.
Lanise Felder was walking on Craven Avenue towards 10th Avenue in Huntington Station when police said she thought she heard a firecracker explode and then felt tingling in her lower leg and realized she had been shot about four inches above her ankle.
Felder, 40, was transported by a family member to Huntington Hospital, where she contacted police and received treatment for her injury.
The investigation is ongoing. Detectives are asking anyone with information about the incident, or about a black SUV, possibly a Nissan Pathfinder, that was seen leaving the scene of the shooting, to contact the Second Squad at 631-854-8252 or call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.
The online version of this story was updated on July 7 at 12:30 p.m.
Suffolk County Police have arrested two men in connection with a shooting outside of a bar on Main Street in Smithtown on Friday, June 3 that left one man injured.
Police said one man grabbed and hung onto a water pipe inside of Hypnosis 8.0 at 43 East Main St. around 1:15 a.m., causing the bar patrons to evacuate and a crowd to form outside the bar. Soon after, police said at least two people fired shots following an altercation, leading to a 29-year-old man from Central Islip to be shot in the leg.
The victim, who was shot, but not identified, was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Suffolk County cops said Friday.
Following an investigation by Fourth Squad detectives, Joell Nieves surrendered to police on June 24 and Dashaun Odister was arrested by members of the Suffolk County Police Firearms Suppression Team on Montauk Highway in Bellport on July 6.
Nieves, 22, of Bay Shore, was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Odister, 21, of East Patchogue, was charged with, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and an active warrant for military desertion.
Odister will be held overnight at the Fourth Precinct and will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on July 7. Nieves has already been arraigned.
Additional reporting contributed by Victoria Espinoza
A bus company employee driving a minibus hit an East Northport woman Tuesday morning.
Suffolk County Police Second Squad detectives are investigating the crash, which happened on Railroad Avenue in East Northport, at the driveway of Baumann and Sons Buses, where Joanne Fuller-Astarita, the victim and an employee of that business, was hit by a minibus turning into the location at about 10:15 a.m.
Fuller-Astarita, 57, of East Northport, was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the minibus, Robert Heartland, 61, of Huntington Station, was not injured.
The minibus was inspected at the scene by officers from the Motor Carrier Safety Section. The investigation is continuing.
Local fire districts salute Thomas Lateulere, as HIS coffin is carried out of St. John the Baptist R. C. Church in Wading River on July 1. Photo by Wenhao Ma
By Wenhao Ma
The Wading River community bid farewell Friday to an impactful, friendly and unforgettable first responder.
Many gathered at St. John the Baptist R. C. Church in Wading River Friday morning to attend the funeral of Thomas Lateulere, the director of training and education for Suffolk County’s Regional Emergency Medical Services Council, and former commissioner of the Wading River Fire District.
Lateulere, 52, who by many was referred to as a “true gentleman” and “professional man,” died of an illness on June 27. A wake was held on June 30, at the Wading Fire Department headquarters.
“He was a selfless guy,” said Kevin McQueeney, first assistant chief of the Wading River Fire Department, who had known Lateulere for 35 years. “When he was sick, he didn’t tell anybody how sick he was. He’s just a selfless, selfless individual.”
Locals pay respect to Thomas Lateulere during mass outside St. John the Baptist R. C. Church in Wading River on July 1. Photo by Wenhao Ma
Lateulere, who worked up until days before his death, joined the fire department right after high school, as a volunteer, in 1981, and by the following year, was a trained firefighter and emergency medical technician. He spent time as one of the first flight paramedics to fly with Suffolk County police’s emergency aviation unit, and according to Tony Bitalvo, second assistant chief of the Wading River Fire Department, Lateulere was an advocate for the pilot program, among other pilot programs. He served as an advocate at the state level.
Lateulere also convinced the department to get involved with cutting-edge technologies and ways to save lives, such as narcan, an anti-overdose treatment, which he pushed for as leader of Suffolk REMSCO.
“The things he brought to our department was unprecedented,” Bitalvo said. “He’s just somebody we always relied and counted on. It’s a tremendous loss for the Wading River Fire Department and the community in general.”
The Huntington Community First Aid Squad showed respect to Lateulere by thanking him “for all his service to our organization and the entire EMS community” on its official Facebook page.
Bitalvo said that Lateulere had influenced Emergency Medical Technicians across Long Island.
“His training and patience touched every aspect of the EMS field,” he said.
Bernice Bien-Aime, the Chief of Operations Wyandanch-Wheatley Heights Ambulance Corp., had one such experience with Lateulere. When the two first met in 1995, Bien-Aime was a rookie EMT. She remembers Lateulere as a humble, caring and passionate person.
“I’ve always heard of paramedics having the ‘Paragod’ complex,” Bien-Aime said, but immediately got the vibe from Lateulere that with him, it was quite the opposite. “Now here comes Tom, literally coming from the sky, and he was the kindest paramedic.”
The Wading River Fire Department honors Thomas Lateulere during mass, outside St. John the Baptist R. C. Church in Wading River on July 1. Photo by Wenhao Ma
She recalled Latuelere’s reassurance and help following taking the Suffolk County protocol exam to become a credentialed EMT. Although her Advanced Emergency Medical Technician -Critical Care certification was completed in Nassau County, she wanted to work in Suffolk.
After taking the test, Lauteulere, seeing she was nervous, called Bien-Aime to the side.
“Relax, you got this,” she recalls Lauteulere telling her.
“Oh, I passed?” she asked in response.
“No,” she remembers him answering, with a smile. “If this was Nassau County, yes. But this is Suffolk. Our protocols are different. You know this stuff. Now relax and remember you’re in Suffolk. Now, retake your test.”
Thousands of first responders went through Lauteulere directly, learning how to save lives from a man who demanded perfection and knew how to bring it out in his fellow emergency medical teams.
“[He was] patient with this rookie EMT,” Bien-Aime said. “That is a feeling I’ve never forgotten.”
Sharing a similar feeling was Branden Heller, who is now the third assistant chief of Wading River Fire Department. Fifteen years ago when he first came to the department, Lateulere was the chief.
“[He’s] a major inspiration and a natural leader,” Heller said.
Many at the funeral looked to Lateulere as not only an influential figure in the EMS community, but the community itself.
“He saved countless lives,” McQueeney said of Lateulere. “He’s irreplaceable, and I firmly believe that.”
Sabrina Marci was arrested for driving while intoxicated, while babysitting four young children. Photo from SCPD
Suffolk County Police arrested a 19-year-old babysitter after someone called police to report a woman was intoxicated with four children in her car.
A Good Samaritan called police at approximately 2 p.m. after she watched Sabrina Macri searching for her vehicle in the parking lot of Cedar Beach on Harbor Beach Road in Mount Sinai. The babysitter had four boys, ages ranging from 4 to 11 years old, in her care. Once Macri located her black 2015 Honda Civic, she attempted to drive away, but the Good Samaritan used her own vehicle to block Macri in until police arrived.
Macri, of Sound Beach, was charged with driving while intoxicated, aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child passenger 15 years old or younger (Leandra’s Law), four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
She was held overnight at the 4th Precinct and was scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip this morning.
John Anastasiou and Jacklyn Lynch mug shots. Photos from SCPD
John Anastasiou and Jacklyn Lynch, of Rocky Point, were arrested for a string of home invasions that occurred from May 15 to June 21, in the 4th and 6th Precincts.
Following an investigation by Fourth Squad detectives who were following the burglary pattern during the past two months, Anastasiou, 33, was charged with nine counts of second-degree burglary, for breaking into homes in Saint James, Smithtown, Nesconset and Setauket, while Lynch, 32, was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property for pawning items stolen during the burglaries.
During the burglaries, money and jewelry were stolen.
The Poseidon Road residents were scheduled to be arraigned today at First District Court in Central Islip.
Suffolk County Police 2nd Precinct detectives are investigating a car crash that seriously injured a Huntington man riding a dirt bike on Wednesday night.
Joseph Fraumeni, Jr. was driving a Kawasaki KX100 dirt bike west on Darrow Lane in Greenlawn just after 11 p.m. when he hit the back of a parked vehicle last night.
Fraumeni, 22, was transported via Suffolk County Police helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital where he is being treated for serious leg and internal injuries.
The dirt bike was impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing. Detectives are asking anyone with information about this crash to contact the 2nd Precinct at 631-854-8252.
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