Second arrest made in illegal street racing event in Patchogue
Gateway Plaza on Sunrise Highway in Patchogue, where police said a 19-year-old Holbrook woman was injured on Oct. 6, while watching illegal street car racing. Credit: Rick Kopstein
Suffolk County police have made a second arrest in an illegal street racing event in Patchogue last week that resulted in an injury to a Holbrook woman who was watching the race.
Police said Matthew Mitchell, 20, of Brooklyn, was charged Tuesday in the Oct. 6 race with felony second-degree assault, felony leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury, and misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment, reckless driving and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. He was arrested Tuesday morning in Kew Gardens, Queens.
Police said the 19-year-old Holbrook woman was injured while watching the "car takeover" in a parking lot at about 1:15 a.m. at Gateway Plaza on Sunrise Highway.
The woman, who was not identified, was driven in a private vehicle to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, where she was treated for serious injuries.
Mitchell pleaded not guilty Wednesday morning in First District Court in Central Islip, where bail was set at $200,000 cash or $400,000 bond. He was represented by Suffolk County Legal Aid and his attorney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The arrest follows the coordinated street race that officials said paralyzed streets around the Patchogue shopping center and other parts of the Town of Brookhaven during the early hours Oct. 6.
That same morning, police arrested Danya Northington, 19, of Roosevelt, who police said was seen "fleeing the area at a high rate of speed." He was charged with third-degree unlawfully fleeing a police officer and reckless endangerment, both misdemeanors, and is scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 26, court records show.
Police said the race was related to similar racing incidents with vehicles performing dangerous maneuvers and tricks on William Floyd Parkway in Shirley and on Route 25A in Sound Beach and Miller Place.
"There is zero tolerance for crime and this type of behavior in Brookhaven Town," Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico said in statement Wednesday. "Let these arrests serve as a clear warning to others, because we have a district attorney that prosecutes crime and a police department that actively and relentlessly investigates these incidents, aided by technology that crosses jurisdictional boundaries."
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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