Village of Lake Success Police Department officers responded on Saturday to calls for assistance from the New York Police Department and Nassau County Police Department, after a group of over 30 bicyclists were seen on the Long Island Expressway performing tricks.
“This wasn’t a normal bike ride that you take your family out and a bunch of friends and go out for a nice ride,” Lake Success Police Chief Joseph Gardella said. “The initial call came in from state police. Somebody stopped at their barracks and said that these guys were on the expressway in the right lane riding their bicycles doing tricks.”
Lake Success Police Lieutenant Mark Staniszewski said the group of bicyclists ranged from teenagers to men in their 30s.
He added that they believed the bikers came from another borough, possibly the Bronx.
Gardella said Lake Success police officers did not see the group while they were on the expressway.
“Our officers said the first time they found them were on the service road on the roadway. Then they all split up and they took off,” Gardella said. “They didn’t want to be with the cops. There were a couple officers there trying to corral them and talk to them.”
A witness said she saw a Lake Success police vehicle cut across Community Drive and drive into a group of bikers, striking them.
Gardella said one of the teenaged bicyclists was hit around 1:30 p.m., but his father, who was in the group of bikers, denied the offer of medical assistance.
“He refused medical aid,” he said. “He wanted his kid out of the ambulance and they took off on bicycles.”
Gardella said he did not want to release the struck bicyclist’s or his father’s name. He added that the Nassau County Police Department was handling the accident report as it was their jurisdiction.
The county police’s Public Information Office said they had no record of an accident, but had record of a bicycle traffic concern on the expressway’s service road in which Lake Success police were notified.
Staniszewski said they were alerted about a group of bicyclists committing larceny at a gas station, but the owner did not want to press charges.
“A bunch them got off the bicycles, went into the store and grabbed little things,” he said.
Gardella said they did not know if the bicyclists at the gas station incident were the same as the bicyclists they responded to.
Village of Lake Success Mayor Ron Cooper said Lake Success police officers “did what they had to do.”
“This is a police matter that is being taken care of by our police force in conjunction with the NYPD and New York state police,” Cooper added. “We were in assist mode and you had a whole host of bikers that were causing potential accidents on the Long Island Expressway and this was an attempt to clear them from the area.”
