Suspect arrested in menacing of mom, baby

A Roosevelt man with a history of mental illness faces endangerment and menacing charges after he spit in the face of a woman walking with her infant Tuesday afternoon, police said.

The woman, 24, whom police are not naming, was walking with her 4-month-old in a carrier on her chest near the intersection of Nassau Road and West Centennial Avenue around 1:15 p.m. when Serge Delaleu, 41, of 129 Forest Ave., approached her and asked her if a man riding by on a bicycle was her husband, Nassau County police said.

When the woman replied that the man was not her husband, Delaleu became "agitated," began making threatening hand gestures at the woman, then spit in her face, Insp. Kenneth Lack, a spokesman for Nassau police, said Wednesday. The woman turned and walked away, and Delaleu tried to kick her, Lack said.

The mother crossed Nassau Road, and the man walked away from her, northbound. He was arrested later in Freeport on charges that he menaced a 13-year-old girl there, Lack said.

Neither the baby nor the mother was injured, police said.

Lack said Delaleu has a police history of erratic behavior and mental disturbance. He has also been charged in the past with criminal contempt and criminal possession of a weapon and burglary, among other things, police said.

Police originally thought Delaleu had tried to take the baby from the woman, a department spokeswoman said Wednesday. But further investigation determined that was not the case, she said.

Delaleu is charged with menacing and endangering the welfare of a child and is scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead.