Islip street racing: Multiple crashes after event broken up, officials say

A car crashed and caught fire early Sunday in Islip as its driver and dozens of others allegedly attempted to flee Suffolk County police breaking up an illegal street racing event, police and fire officials said.

The crash was among several collisions, including two involving police vehicles, after officers responded just after 1 a.m. and the alleged street racers tried to leave an area near a Sunrise Highway service road, police said.

Islip Fire Department Chief Jared Gunst estimated as many as 100 vehicles were blocking roadways as volunteers responded to a report of small fires in the area. The blocked roadways slowed firefighters and emergency vehicles trying to get to the scene, he said.

"They basically shut all the streets in the area down, including the service roads on both sides of Sunrise Highway," Gunst said, adding that the fires were allegedly lit by the street racers, who were setting off fireworks.

The car that caught fire, a Ford Mustang, had crashed into another vehicle near the Wallace Street intersection with Commack Road, police said, adding that the driver fled on foot. No one was injured in the crash, according to  police.

"There was just cars driving in all different directions when the crash happened," the chief said.

Two other vehicles attempting to flee struck a pole and a tree, respectively. One driver fled on foot and police issued multiple traffic summonses to the other. Two Suffolk County police vehicles crashed into poles on Sunrise Service Road, one while trying to avoid a person in the road and another after an officer exited his vehicle in an attempt to stop the Mustang from driving in circles at the Wallace Street intersection with Commack Road, authorities said.

At least three tires were slashed on a patrol vehicle that had responded, police said.

Last month, a 19-year-old Holbrook woman was injured while watching an illegal "car takeover" event shortly after 1 a.m.in a parking lot at Gateway Plaza on Sunrise Highway in Patchogue, police said at the time. The Patchogue location is 11 miles from where Sunday's incident took place.

A Brooklyn man, Matthew Mitchell, 20, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday on a grand jury indictment for second-degree assault, leaving the scene of an incident without reporting and several misdemeanor charges related to the Patchogue crash.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said that incident, which it alleges was captured on video, was one of several illegal street racing events in the county overnight on Oct. 6.

"Real life is not The Fast and the Furious," District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement Thursday, referring to the motion picture franchise focused on street racing.

Attorney Steven Politi, of Central Islip, who is defending Mitchell, said he is awaiting the video evidence prosecutors say they have in the case and believes the incident could be "an accident being prosecuted as a crime."

"As far as I’m concerned this appears to be an unfortunate accident," Politi said. "We wish the young lady, who we have been told suffered fractures of her back, pelvis and legs, a full and speedy recovery."

Gunst said while he’s heard of similar street-racing events across Suffolk County lately, Sunday morning’s was unique to Islip.

"The reckless driving throughout the entire town definitely led to a completely unsafe situation and the blocking of emergency vehicles," the chief said. "They put a lot of people in pretty serious danger and didn't seem to really mind the consequences of that."