Cover photo: Fresh tire marks at Wm Floyd Pkwy and Montauk Hwy in Shirley (Credit – Matt Meduri)
A relatively new form of mischief has resulted in not only traffic disruptions and public nuisances, but also the delay of emergency response vehicles, prompting swift action from State legislators and support from a wide slate of local elected officials.
Referred to as “street takeovers,” law enforcement has identified premeditated “car meets,” where perpetrators shut down intersections to spin donuts and take advantage of the relatively open spaces in Suffolk. Such delinquency has been identified in several parts of the county, as well as more remote parts of the state, such as Dutchess County. Not only are these incidents incredibly dangerous, but they have vicarious effects on the communities in which they occur. A very recent case of a “street takeover” on 25A in Miller Place left one person injured and delayed the response of emergency vehicles in the area.
A “street takeover” was also conducted a couple nights ago at the intersection of Montauk Highway and William Floyd Parkway in Shirley. The tire marks are readily visible in the center of the intersection and crosswalks.
Only adding insult to injury is the fact that these “street takeovers” are planned, often on social media, as perpetrators descend on Suffolk to open up their engines away from the busy streets of Nassau County and New York City. Vehicles are not always owned by the miscreants, as some are proven to have been rentals.
Senator Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) (pictured above) unveiled legislation, S.9925, which would give law enforcement better tools to increase street safety and increase penalties on individuals who make a situation that is already dangerous even more so by interfering with emergency medical services.
The bill works in tandem with that of Senator Rob Rolison (R-Poughkeepsie). Rolison’s bill, S.7717a, would establish the offense of aggravated reckless driving and would provide for the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles used in connection with reckless driving or aggravated reckless driving.
Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio (R-Baiting Hollow) (pictured below) has pledged to carry Palumbo’s bill in the lower chamber.
Senator Palumbo and Assemblywoman Giglio were joined by a host of local lawmakers, flanked by first responders at the Miller Place Fire Department.
Palumbo compared the legislative intent as similar to that of DWI charges, in that if an individual acquires an alcohol-related offense, the vehicle can be lost.
“That is the instrumentality of the law. If you can’t set bail, you at least need to get a ride home,” said Palumbo. “I think that’s just common sense.”
The first obligation of any government is public safety,” said County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches). “Do we know who they [the perpetrators] are? Absolutely, because technology is great. We went through our red light cameras that were at the intersections and we were able to get their license plates and the police department is following up.”
Romaine (pictured below) added that, since safety is paramount, it’s the reason the County added 225 police officers to the budget.
“People from outside of Brookhaven Town, predominantly outside of Suffolk County, chose to come out here in a night of coordinated chaos,” said Brookhaven Town Supervisor Dan Panico (R-Center Moriches). “These cars need to be seized. These cars are being used as weapons on the roadway. Three 4,000-pound vehicles spinning around recklessly in a disregard for human life and property, namely law and order.”
Panico added that “cars need to be seized; fines should be exponentially increased; and they’ll [the perpetrators] have to get a ride home, and the Town will make sure that when they come to get their vehicle, if they can make it through the criminal justice system, that they come with a flatbed.”
“The registrations should be voided; the plates forfeited; the inspection stickers ripped off the windshield,” said Panico. “You’re not going to come out here from New York City and from points west of Nassau County and think because we are less populated that you can just come here and terrorize our residents and go crazy on our roadways.”
Suffolk County Legislator Chad Lennon (C-Rocky Point), who represents Miller Place in the Legislature, told prospective criminals, “we are standing for law and order. We are going to find you. We’re going to press every charge we can against you.”
Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner (R-Rocky Point) (pictured below) thanked her colleagues for “acting so swiftly to tighten up these loopholes” to prevent such chaos from occurring again.
“Just because we are Suffolk County doesn’t mean we’re country bumpkins. We take law and order very, very seriously,” said Bonner.
“New York State has been minimizing crime, not upping offenses and upping penalties and consequences that come along with these crimes. This legislation will hold people accountable,” said Assemblywoman Giglio. “And I will urge my legislators on the state level to get behind this legislation and reinstate these common sense safety policies for all of our communities throughout the state.”
Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue), Chair of the Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Services and Preparedness Committee, issued a fiery response to individuals who intentionally, or even unintentionally, lampoon the efforts and duties of first responders and EMS.
“I never thought I would have to stand here and tell people not to block ambulances. How dare you block an emergency vehicle in our county?” said Thorne. “When you block an ambulance or emergency vehicle in this county, the fines that we will impose on you will be biblical. Your grandkids are going to feel the fines of interference with our emergency workers in this county. If you interfere with our emergency vehicles, you feed the fire. You will feel the pain that you’re suffering.”
“This wasn’t young adults or individuals saying, ‘let’s just do something wild and crazy.’ This was contrived, premeditated, and planned,” said Senator Palumbo. “You don’t know about a lot of these that were about to take place because they were on Facebook. They were on public pages. Now they’ve gotten slick and they’re doing it privately. So, now they [law enforcement] don’t have the upper hand where they can stage the area and immediately stop it once it starts. So they’re getting slick, we need to get slicker.”
Under current State and County laws, a vehicle is only seizable for reckless driving under “very limited circumstances, which aren’t really applicable here,” according to Palumbo. Currently, an individual charged with driving recklessly in a drivable vehicle that is registered, inspected, and insured is given a ticket and appears in court at a future date. Palumbo compares the aggravated charges to burglary charges, which escalate depending on the type of property and if the perpetrator is armed.
There are also no laws permitting Suffolk County to impound vehicles used in reckless driving incidents, although Executive Romaine signaled strong support for such an initiative in the near future. Romaine added that certain State-led initiatives, such as cashless bail, have hampered law enforcement’s ability to maintain public safety.
“If you’re going to come and do this nonsense, we’re going to crack down. We’re going to take your vehicle and we’re going to seize it. And we’ll use the auction money when we auction it off to fund our police. Thank you!” said Romaine.
Alan Bode, Chief Deputy District Attorney for D.A. Ray Tierney (R), said that his office will stake a “comprehensive, data-driven, long-term investigation” into the apparent underground community.
In attendance also were Suffolk County Legislators Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead) and Jim Mazzarella (R-Moriches), Assemblyman Ed Flood (R-Port Jefferson Station), and Sound Beach Civic Association President Bea Ruberto.