NYC Man Charged In 'Car Takeover' That Hurt Woman On Long Island: Police

PATCHOGUE, NY — A Brooklyn man has been charged in connection with seriously injuring a woman during a "car takeover" in Patchogue earlier this month, Suffolk police said Wednesday.

The 19-year-old Holbrook woman was watching a car takeover at the Gateway Plaza on Sunrise Highway, when she was struck by a white Infiniti sedan on Oct. 6 at around 1:15 a.m., police said, adding that she was taken by private vehicle to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore for treatment of serious injuries.

Matthew Mitchell, 20, was arrested in Kew Gardens, Queens Wednesday morning and was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious injury, second-degree reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Mitchell is the third person arrested in connection with a series of car meets that police dispersed on Oct. 6.

A 19-year-old man from Roosevelt was found shortly after the incident, and he was charged with third-degree unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, and reckless endangerment, both misdemeanors, police said.

Following the incident, police said the 19-year-old woman, who was watching the car meet in the parking lot, was struck by a vehicle, which was doing donuts before speeding away around the time officers arrived.

Not long after the incident in Patchogue, officers were called to William Floyd Parkway in Shirley and also Route 25 A in Sound Beach and Miller Place for vehicles in the roadway obstructing traffic, and they had to dispersed them, according to police.

An upstate man was charged with reckless driving after he was caught doing donuts at the intersection of Montauk Highway and William Floyd Parkway in Shirley, police said.

The vehicle, a 2023 Dodge Charger, stalled and he left it before running away at around 1:40 a.m., police said, adding that after an investigation, Crime Section officers learned it was a rental, it was impounded, according to police.

Officers arrested the 26-year-old Mahopac man and he was given a Desk Appearance Ticket returnable for arraignment at First District Court in Central Islip on a later date, police said.

These incidents, as well as another in Miller Place in which an ambulance was blocked, have since prompted state lawmakers to introduce legislation that will make it a felony to block Emergency Medical Services vehicles, and allow for the seizure and forfeiture of vehicles.

Mitchell is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday.