Tags Posts tagged with "Police"

Police

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Setauket firefighters get set with a ladder to approach the second floor dormitory fire area as soon as interior firefighters put water on the fire to extinguish flames. Photo from SFD/R. O'Rourk

A ferocious fire inside a dormitory building at Stony Brook University has left multiple floors and rooms damaged, the university said Monday.

The blaze broke out Saturday night in a student’s room on the second floor of O’Neill College, one of four residential buildings in Mendelsohn Quad, officials said. It took teams from various fire departments in the community to extinguish the flames and forced about 115 student residents to relocate to temporary housing, the university said in a statement.

The cause was still under investigation and there were no reported injuries.

“The fire was contained to one bedroom on E-wing [of the dormitory] with some damage to several room doors on multiple floors of the wing as well as some water and smoke damage,” the university said in a statement. “Professional and student staff within campus residences immediately began to work diligently to provide resident students with the resources and support needed, and continue to do so.”

The fire is extinguished but a clean-up of debris from the room continues to ensure no hidden flames exist. Photo from SFD/R. O'Rourk
The fire is extinguished but a clean-up of debris from the room continues to ensure no hidden flames exist. Photo from SFD/R. O’Rourk

University police initially reported the fire before crews arrived. The Setauket Fire Department responded to the call and received mutual aid from the Stony Brook, St. James and Port Jefferson departments. There, officials found that the dorm room where the flames originated was completely destroyed, officials said.

Setauket firefighters had to carry hoses up to the second floor because there were no standpipes there to connect to, due to the building’s decades-old architecture, the Setauket Fire Department said in a statement.

“Once water was brought to bear, most flames were extinguished and the remainder of the alarm resulted in cleaning out debris to ensure there was no extension to the fire,” the department said in a statement.

The university said the displaced residents would return to the building when it is properly restored.

“Currently there are professional fire restoration personnel on-site working to repair the facility in conjunction with our campus residence operations and risk management staff,” the university said in a statement.

File photo

A man with a handgun restrained employees and customers at a Huntington Station store before robbing the place, and police said the incident was similar to others that happened across Long Island in the last few months.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the suspect entered the Pier 1 Imports on East Jericho Turnpike with the weapon at about 7 p.m. last night and forced employees and customers to the rear of the store, which is near New York Avenue. After restraining them, he made an employee open the store’s safe and he removed cash from the registers.

Police said the armed robbery was similar to crimes that have happened in Nassau and Suffolk counties since late August, including four robberies at women’s clothing stores — on Sept. 7 in East Farmingdale, on Oct. 12 in West Babylon, on Oct. 26 in Deer Park and on Nov. 2 in North Lindenhurst.

The male suspect in the Pier 1 armed robbery was described as black, between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, and of a thin to medium build, police said. He was wearing a mask and a hoodie at the time of the crime.

Detectives from the SCPD’s Pattern Crime Unit are investigating the incident and Suffolk County Crime Stoppers is offering a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-220-TIPS.

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The issue of drug abuse will be brought to the forefront in a few weeks, as the Port Jefferson Village Board of Trustees dedicates its next meeting to a community discussion on the topic.

That meeting on Dec. 7 is being moved to Earl L. Vandermeulen High School, where school, village and police officials will meet for a forum called The Ugly Truth.

“Although we have all read and heard the headlines about heroin in our neighborhoods and the dangers of easy access to powerful prescription medication, we rarely hear The Ugly Truth behind these headlines,” according to a flyer advertising the joint event.

Suffolk County Police Department officials, including the chief medical examiner and a school resource officer, will tell parents the signs of heroin and prescription drug abuse among teenagers and what can be done about it.

The village trustees will hold their work session meeting at 6 p.m. that day at the high school on Old Post Road, then attend the forum at 7 p.m. in lieu of holding a public comment period at Village Hall as usual. The public comment period will instead be held at the board’s following meeting, on Dec. 21.

Drug addiction and abuse is a topic that hits home in all Long Island communities, but it has been a particular point of friction in Port Jefferson and Port Jefferson Station because of a visible homeless population and the presence of various community services catering to that group, such as a soup kitchen network and a homeless shelter.

Photo from SCPD

A 15-foot trailer was stolen from a Commack business in the middle of the night, according to the Suffolk County Police Department, and authorities want help to find out who is responsible.

Police said the $8,000 trailer was snatched from Trailer City on Jericho Turnpike overnight between Nov. 16 and Nov. 17, although it was unclear if one person of multiple perpetrators were to blame. The suspect or suspects are wanted for grand larceny in the theft from the business, located just west of Siracusa Boulevard.

Detectives from the SCPD’s 4th Squad and Suffolk County Crime Stoppers are looking for the public’s help to identify and locate the person or people who committed the crime.

Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest. Anyone with information is asked to call them anonymously at 800-220-TIPS.

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Suffolk County Police Department detectives are investigating an incident in which a man’s body was found near a sandbar along the Kings Park Bluff. File photo by Rachel Shapiro

Suffolk County Police pulled a man’s body from the waters at Kings Park Bluff on Saturday.

The county police department responded to an incident during which a car plunged into the Kings Park Bluff waters around 10:40 p.m. on Friday night, authorities said. Marine Bureau divers investigated the scene soon after.

But the following morning, around 7:35 a.m., police received a 911 call reporting a body on a sandbar in the river.

Marine Bureau divers once again responded and recovered the body of an adult male. Police described the man’s location as “a distance away” from where the vehicle went into the water.

It was unclear if police knew the man’s identity, and it was not immediately known that it was his vehicle in the water.

The vehicle was removed from the water on Monday and the incident was classified as noncriminal, police said.

The county’s Homicide Squad detectives were still investigating the incident.

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Detectives are searching for three men they say jumped a pizza delivery person in Northport on Friday the 13th.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, the trio knocked him to the ground on Main Street that evening, near the intersection with Norwood Avenue, and then repeatedly punched and kicked him as they tried to take personal property from his pockets.

The SCPD said the Northport Police Department is asking the public for help to identify and locate the alleged assailants, who are wanted for attempted robbery because they fled the scene shortly after 8 p.m. without stealing anything.

Police described the suspects as black and between 18 and 22 years old. They were wearing dark-colored hoodies and fled in a late-model, two-door, black Honda hatchback with tinted windows and taillights, a loud muffler and possibly a standard-shift transmission.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers offers a cash reward up to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information about the alleged attempted robbery on Nov. 13 is asked to call them anonymously at 800-220-TIPS.

A view of the front entrance of the new Asharoken Village Hall located on Asharoken Avenue. The building, which opened less than a month ago, has more space for police and village business. Photo by Victoria Espinoza

Asharoken’s new Village Hall has got it all, according to Mayor Greg Letica.

Letica said the new structure is nearly three times larger than the old building — the ground floor is approximately 3,000 square feet. Most of that is made up of the village clerk’s office, an office for Letica, a small conference room, a kitchen and the village trustees’ meeting room.

The rest of the first floor and the second floor are spaces for the police department, including an office, an interview room, a locker room and storage.

Letica said the police department had about 120 square feet inside the old Village Hall, so its wish list was a bit bigger for the new building.

“There was no interview room, no office; there was no nothing,” Letica said.

Both the police department and the village clerk’s office moved into the new building about a month ago.

According to the mayor, this new Village Hall would not be possible if it weren’t for the involvement of village residents. The budget for the entire building was roughly $950,000 and residents opened their wallets to help.

“What’s great about this project is how we funded it,” he said. “To date, we have approximately $360,000 worth of resident donations.”

Residents have been donating money for nine years, ever since the idea to renovate the old village hall was brought up by Trustee Mel Ettinger. In October alone, Letica said, they received $13,000 in resident donations.

“We have roughly 300 families in the village and about 200 donated,” Ettinger said. “It’s incredible. And some of them gave tens of thousands and some gave $50. It was a conglomeration and obviously the overwhelming majority of people wanted to donate.”

Asharoken was also able to capitalize on money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and multiple grants to help fund the construction of the new building, because the old one took a beating during Hurricane Sandy. Letica said they received $530,000 from FEMA and about $80,000 in grants.

“After Sandy, it became more apparent that we had to do something,” Letica said. “And maintaining the old building made no sense anymore.”

The new village trustee meeting room will soon have a donor board, where the  names of people who have donated will be showcased on the wall.

“This is a really neat accomplishment by the village residents,” Letica said. “It’s something I think very few communities on Long Island could rally to do. I think it says a lot about Asharoken as a community.”

The new Village Hall is also much more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than the old establishment.

The building uses spray foam insulation, an alternative to traditional insulation, and LED lighting, which produces more light per watt than incandescent light bulbs. Both of those products lower utility bills and save on energy costs.

“We expect this building to be very economical energy-wise,” Letica said.

Flying high on the Smithtown Bypass
A 38-year-old man from Amityville was arrested on Nov. 9 at 10 p.m. after police said he had heroin in his possession, pushed a police officer to the ground and then forcefully pulled away while trying to resist arrest on the Smithtown Bypass in Smithtown. He was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, second-degree physical contact and resisting arrest.

Garage door damage
An unknown person damaged a garage door of a residence on Oak Avenue in Smithtown at 4 p.m. on Nov. 6.

Goodbye
A 51-year-old man from Holbrook was arrested on Nov. 6 at 11:15 p.m. after police said he drove into a 2007 Ford van that was parked on Johnson Avenue in Ronkonkoma and fled. He was charged with leaving the scene with property damage.

No more rims
Four tires and rims were stolen from a Cadillac at King O’Rourke Cadillac Buick GMC in Smithtown at 10 p.m. on Nov. 4.

Shed crime
A 19-year-old woman and a 20-year-old woman from Commack were arrested after police said they entered a shed on Lillian Road in Nesconset on Nov. 4 without permission at 7:30 a.m. They were both charged with third-degree criminal trespassing of an enclosed property.

Fake
A 45-year-old man from Commack was arrested on Nov. 7 after police said he pretended to be a police officer by showing a fake badge and saying he was a police officer at 1:30 p.m. on Route 25A in Commack. He was charged with second-degree criminal impersonation of a public servant.

Pot stop
Police said a 18-year-old man from Commack had marijuana in his possession at the corner of Route 25A and Commack Road in Commack at 10:50 p.m. on Nov. 4. He was arrested and charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana.

Flee fail
On Nov. 4 a 63-year-old woman from Commack was arrested after police said she hit a parked 2006 Ford pickup truck on Commack Road at 5:20 p.m. while driving a 2004 Cadillac and attempted to flee the scene. She was arrested and charged with leaving the scene with property damage.

Repair needed
On Nov. 6 around 1:40 p.m. an unknown person damaged the Dano’s Auto Clinic sign on Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station.

Cool crime
Between Nov. 3 and 4 an unidentified person stole an air-conditioning unit from Rheumatology Associates of Long Island in Port Jefferson Station.

Inhospitable hit
Suffolk County police said an unknown person broke the front window of the Pax Christi Hospitality Center in Port Jefferson on Nov. 6. The individual used a rock to damage the window.

Starting a garage band
On Nov. 5 an unidentified person stole an iMac computer and a guitar from a building on Riverhead Road in Sound Beach.

Just beachy
At Scott’s Beach Club in Sound Beach on Nov. 5, someone damaged a security camera and the arm of the security gate.

Mad hatter
On Nov. 7 someone left the Kohl’s in Rocky Point with a black hat without paying.

Can’t get no re-leaf
Between Nov. 4 and 5, an unknown person stole a leaf blower from a residence on Oxhead Road in Centereach. Police said the leaf blower was inside the home but didn’t specify how the person entered the home.

ShopWrong
An unknown person entered the ShopRite in Selden and stole assorted merchandise on Nov. 7.
A female stole assorted items from the Walmart on Nesconset Highway in East Setauket on Nov. 5.

Stony broke
On Nov. 6, an unknown person used another person’s identification without permission. According to police, the victim, who lives in Stony Brook, saw several charges to their bank card.

Drugged up and dreamin’
Police arrested a 28-year-old man from Medford for driving while ability impaired by drugs on Nov. 5, around 4:34 p.m., after he allegedly fell asleep while driving a 2008 Honda Civic west on Canal Road in Mount Sinai. Police arrested the man at the scene.

Wrong way
Police charged a 23-year-old woman on Nov. 5 for driving while ability impaired after she drove a black 2015 Hyundai Elantra the wrong way on a ramp connecting Route 97 and Route 25 in Centereach. According to police, the woman crashed into a tan 2003 Mercedes Benz. Police arrested the woman at the scene.          

License to spray paint
Police arrested a 69-year-old man from Selden on Nov. 6 for six counts of criminal tampering. The man allegedly spray-painted the front and rear license plates of a 2001 Toyota Camry, a 2004 Ford Taurus and four other unidentified cars on Oct. 17 and 27. The incidents took place at St. Joseph’s Village For Senior Citizens in Selden.

Low on luck
An 18-year-old man from East Setauket was arrested for petit larceny on Nov. 5, a few days after he took items from a Lowe’s home improvement store in Medford and attempted to return them for store credit.

Caught after the act
A 50-year-old woman from Rocky Point was arrested for grand larceny on Nov. 5, almost a month after she took a wallet from another woman’s purse on West Broadway in Port Jefferson. Police arrested the woman at the 6th Precinct.

In a Garden State of mind
Police arrested a 17-year-old teen from Brentwood on Nov. 6 for operating a car without a license. According to police, the teen was with another individual when he was driving the 2012 Toyota east on Route 25A in Miller Place, and he was in possession of forged New Jersey license plates.

Crash landing
A 23-year-old woman from Sound Beach was arrested on Nov. 7 for driving while ability impaired, after she crashed her 1996 Volkswagen on Rocky Point Landing Road in Rocky Point. Police arrested the woman on Tall Tree Lane.

The Heartbreaker
Coins and cash were stolen from a 2004 Chevrolet, a 2014 GMC and a 2005 Subaru, all parked in driveways on Valentine Lane in Huntington on Nov. 6.

Windshield woes
On Nov. 5 at 10 p.m. a 21-year-old man from Greenlawn was arrested after police said he jumped on a car on the corner of Greenlawn Road and Tilden Lane, and damaged the windshield. He caused injury to a police officer while resisting arrest, and was charged with second-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury to an officer, resisting arrest and intent to damage property.

Electronic troubles
An unknown person entered a gray 1999 Jeep Cherokee on Nassau Road in Huntington and stole a cell phone and an iPod at 1 a.m. on Nov. 7.

Not quite on Target
On Nov. 5, a 21-year-old woman from Huntington was arrested after police said she stole assorted clothing from the Target on East Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station at 10:40 p.m. She was charged with petit larceny.

Dodgin’ the law
An unknown person entered a 2011 Dodge in a driveway on Vestry Court in Huntington and stole assorted items, including a pocket knife and a flashlight on Nov. 6.

Fake it till you make it
Police said a 19-year-old man from Roosevelt used fake checks at Community Market on Depot Road in Huntington Station on Nov. 4 at 12:30 p.m. He was charged with second-degree possession of a forged instrument.

Making a legacy in his Legacy
A 53-year-old man from Freeport was arrested at 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 6 after police said he intentionally hit a police vehicle with his 2015 Subaru Legacy on Rofay Drive in East Northport and then resisted arrest. According to police, he also had heroin in his possession. He was charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, third degree criminal mischief for property damage and fourth degree criminal possession of narcotic drugs.

Tears at Sears
Police said a 35-year-old from Huntington Station stole clothing from Sears on Route 25A in East Northport on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. He was charged with petit larceny.

High on North Hill
A 30-year-old man from Huntington Station was arrested after police said he was in possession of marijuana on the corner of North Hill Drive and Pulaski Road in East Northport on Nov. 5 at around 10 p.m.

No room for that at the inn
On Nov. 7, a 34-year-old man from Hicksville was arrested after police said he was in possession of cocaine in a parking lot of Rodeway Inn on West Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station. He was charged with seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Full speed ahead on Railroad Street
A 35-year-old man from Syosset was arrested on Nov. 5 after police said he was in possession of cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills without a prescription and then resisted arrest at 10:15 p.m. on the corner of Railroad Street and West Pulaski Road in Huntington Station. He was charged with two accounts of seventh degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest and fifth degree criminal possession of marijuana.

Senator Chuck Schumer is taking wireless network companies to task for poor service in areas of Long Island. File photo by Elana Glowatz

What started as an isolated “sexting” incident has spread across two school districts in greater Smithtown and led to two arrests and more than 20 suspensions, school officials said Tuesday.

It all started in late October, when two 14-year-old boys from an unspecified high school in Smithtown used a cell phone to record a sexual encounter with a female acquaintance off school grounds, the Suffolk County Police Department said in a statement. That explicit content was later distributed electronically to others in an act referred to as sexting to students at Kings Park High School, which led to widespread suspensions there, Kings Park Superintendent Timothy Eagen said in a statement.

Police did not specify the age of the female or where she attends school, or whether the sexual act was consensual or forced.

Both boys were arrested and charged with two felonies — disseminating indecent material to minors and promoting a sexual performance by a child — and a sexual abuse misdemeanor and were scheduled to appear in family court on a later date, police said. Cops did not release the names of the students because they are minors.

In a statement, Smithtown Schools Superintendent James Grossane confirmed the two boys were high school students within the district, but did not specify whether they attended Smithtown High School East or Smithtown High School West. He said district disciplinary action would be determined pending the outcome of an investigation, and the district was working with the SCPD to find a resolution.

“We are greatly disturbed by these allegations and we express our heartfelt concern to the alleged victim and their family,” Grossane said in a statement, referring to the girl whose image was captured and disseminated. “This is a very serious matter and the district is currently conducting an internal investigation to further explore this incident. We encourage parents to take this opportunity to speak with their children about the long-term negative consequences that the inappropriate use of social media may have on their lives and for parents to monitor their child’s online and cell phone use to the best of their ability.”

Policing the digital realm was not a new topic for the Kings Park schools superintendent. The sexting incident occurred about two months after Eagen hosted an online safety and cyber bullying public forum at Kings Park High School.

“Yes, we do have a serious problem,” Eagen said in a notice posted on the Kings Park Central School District’s website. “However, from my perspective it is that our young people are carrying mini-computers in their back pockets that are both unfiltered and largely unsupervised. This is a shared problem, and more than just an issue of one student, one decision, or one suspension”

In the notice posted online, Eagen referred to modern youth as the “iGeneration,” that has grown up in an era of immediate technological stimulation via smartphones and tablets. He notified parents that students had access to various smartphone applications at their fingertips solely designed for the purpose of concealing pictures and videos, and he suggested changes be made inside the home.

“Some students have shared with us that they sleep with their phone under their pillow,” he said. “This is dangerous and very problematic. The best advice that I was given a few years ago was to create a family electronic device charging station. At night before, bed, all devices go to the family charging station. Something to consider.”

Eagen said his goal over the coming months was to work with the district’s principals and parents to urge young people “to be good citizens and report problematic behavior to an adult.”

File photo

A young Kings Park man was killed in a motorcycle crash early Saturday morning when he collided with a minivan, whose driver was charged with driving without a license.

The Suffolk County Police Department said Christopher Colella, 26, was riding a blue 2004 Suzuki GSX-R600 south on Indian Head Road in Commack when a 1999 Chevrolet Venture turned in front of him and he struck the vehicle.

The minivan had been making a left turn from the northbound side of Indian Head Road onto Somers Lane shortly before 7 a.m.

Colella was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The minivan’s driver, Marino Guillen, a 57-year-old Brentwood resident, was charged with unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and was treated for minor injuries at St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown.

Attorney information for the defendant was not immediately available.

Police impounded both vehicles for safety checks.

Detectives from the SCPD’s 4th Squad are investigating the crash.