Syosset Man Gets 5 Years For Throwing Bricks Off Overpass

A Syosset man was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday for throwing cinderblocks and bricks onto the Meadowbrook Parkway, one of which struck a car and permanently injured a woman in December 2015, according to Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas.

Jacob Palant, 21, was convicted on May 17, 2017 of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree assault and three counts of fourth-degree criminal mischief. The jury deliberated his sentencing for approximately a day and a half.

Andrew Denton, 19, of East Meadow, who was also arrested and convicted of throwing bricks and cinderblocks off the overpass, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August.

“Jacob Palant and Andrew Denton endangered lives by throwing paving stones and cinderblocks at passing vehicles from a highway overpass,” Singas said in a press release. “People could have been killed from this depraved behavior and it is a miracle that only one young woman suffered permanent injuries due to their actions."

Palant and Denton threw paving bricks and cinderblocks at cars from a Meadowbrook Parkway overpass bridge in Uniondale during two occasions on Dec. 25, 2015. The duo did not hit any of the vehicles they targeted in the afternoon, but returned at 8 p.m. and struck two vehicles, a BMW and a Jeep, with bricks, the DA said.

The BMW was occupied by a 21-year-old man driving and his girlfriend in the passenger seat. The paving brick smashed through the windshield, snapped off the rear-view mirror and shattered glass all over the vehicle. The DA said the brick just missed the driver's head, but the shattered glass permanently damaged the left eye and lacerated the lip of the 23-year-old woman. The woman now has a permanent scar on her cornea, suffers from blurry vision in the eye and cannot drive a night. The driver also suffered a laceration to his shoulder and shoulder pain from where the brick struck him.

A brick also struck the roof and side of a Jeep, narrowly missing the windshield. The vehicle sustained about $5,000 in damages, the DA said.

Palant and Denton were arrested by New York State Police on New Year's Day in 2016 following an investigation.

Images via NCDA