Police confront 'street takeovers' at Ronkonkoma LIRR station, Uniondale
Skid marks are shown in southeast parking lot at the Ronkonkoma LIRR station on Sunday, where a street takeover occurred on Saturday night. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone
Police in both Suffolk and Nassau counties shut down "street takeover" events Saturday that resulted in dozens of summonses and two arrests, the departments announced.
Suffolk police shut down a "street takeover" Saturday at the Long Island Rail Road Station in Ronkonkoma, where more than 40 vehicles gathered to watch and perform driving stunts in what has become a continuing trend. The driver of a pickup truck who was caught doing "doughnuts" was cited in the 10:15 p.m. incident, Suffolk police said.
Police credited members of the recently formed Suffolk County Police Street Takeover Task Force and criminal intelligence officers with quickly shutting down the event as members of all seven Suffolk precincts arrived to block the exits to the train station parking lot before all the participants could flee the area.
Upon arriving, police found two drivers performing the stunts in the station's parking lot around dozens of vehicles and a crowd of onlookers, police said.
A 19-year-old Ronkonkoma man was issued tickets for performing a side show, engaging in stunt behavior and three other traffic violations, police said. His 2002 Dodge Ram was impounded. The driver of the second pickup truck was not apprehended, police said.
The Ronkonkoma incident followed what Nassau police described as a "large-scale illegal vehicle rally and possible street takeover" on Stewart Avenue in Uniondale shortly after 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Nassau's special operations bureau responded with its criminal intelligence rapid response team and an aviation unit, police said.
Police issued 31 summonses, two vehicles were impounded and a Wantagh man was charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and other traffic violations, police said.
Daniel Tiburcio, 25, was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, along with traffic violations. He will be arraigned Sunday in Hempstead, police said.
Police said Tiburcio had a fraudulent New York State inspection sticker on his vehicle.
"These illegal street takeovers are dangerous to the public and we have zero tolerance for them in Nassau County," Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said in a statement.
Members of the Suffolk task force patrolling the area around the Ronkonkoma crackdown also later charged Jason Merino, 24, of Medford with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation under Angelica’s Law for driving with license suspensions on nine prior occasions, police said.
The law, which is named for a Holbrook teen killed in 2008 by an unlicensed driver with multiple prior suspensions, went into effect this month. It decreases from 10 to 5 the number of license suspensions necessary to upgrade an unlicensed operation charge from a misdemeanor to a felony.
Merino's car was impounded; he will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip at a later date, police said.
Suffolk County officials announced the formation of the task force last week following the arrests of two men in an illegal Nov. 3 street race that injured a police officer and caused a fiery crash as drivers tried to flee near Sunrise Highway in Islip. A similar takeover at a commercial parking lot in Patchogue led to multiple arrests in October, authorities said.
Intelligence officers are monitoring social media for planned takeover events, and Suffolk County Crime Stoppers is offering $500 cash rewards, payable within 72 hours, for information that leads to an arrest, officials said.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
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'Ridiculous tickets that are illogical' A Newsday investigation shows that about 70% of tickets issued by Suffolk County for school bus camera violations in 2023 took place on roads that students don't cross. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
