Man charged with murder after high-speed car chase, cops say

A Bethpage man was arraigned in his hospital bed Wednesday, days after police say he stabbed his wife to death, injured his daughter and led authorities on a 25-mile, high-speed chase into Brooklyn, according to Nassau County police.

Robert Crumb, 44, was charged with second degree murder as he recovered from his injuries, Nassau County police said Wednesday. After his arrest on Friday, Crumb had been taken to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn with stab wounds to his neck and wrist.

Sources have said authorities believe those wounds were self-inflicted and that Crumb had tried to kill himself.

Nassau County police were called to Crumb’s home on Seitz Drive in Bethpage at 12:39 a.m. on Friday after getting a 911 call from his 12-year-old son. At the scene, police found his wife, Maria Crumb, 41, stabbed to death in a bedroom and their 16-year-old daughter with stab wounds to her hands, forearms and an ankle.

Patrol officers went in search of Robert Crumb and spotted him in his vehicle parked near the Newbridge Road exit of the Southern State Parkway. Crumb fled when police approached and led them on a high-speed chase into Brooklyn.

Crumb was arrested after his vehicle struck a car parked at a gas station on Flatlands Avenue, causing both vehicles and a gas pump to go up in flames.

The driver of the parked car was not injured in the fire.

Crumb, who is in stable condition, did not appear to have an attorney, according to court records. It was not immediately clear when Crumb would next face a judge.