Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas announced that a jury found two men guilty today of Assault in the 1st Degree and other charges for throwing bricks onto the Meadowbrook Parkway, striking a car and causing permanent damage to woman who was a passenger in a vehicle in December 2015.
Andrew Denton, 19, of East Meadow and Jacob Palant, 20, of Syosset were convicted of:
- Assault in the 1st Degree (a B violent felony)
- Two counts of Reckless Endangerment in the 1st Degree (a D felony)
- Assault in the 2nd Degree (a D violent felony)
- Three counts of Criminal mischief in the 4th Degree (an A misdemeanor)
The defendants are being held on $1 million bond or $500,000 cash. Palant is due back for sentencing on June 28, while Denton is due back for sentencing on June 29, both before Acting Supreme Court Justice Meryl Berkowitz. The defendants face up to five to 25 years in prison on the top count.
The trial started May 1 and the jury deliberated for approximately a day and a half.
“These defendants played Russian roulette with innocent peoples’ lives and used them as moving targets when they threw bricks and cinderblocks at passing vehicles from an overpass,” said DA Singas. “We will always prosecute senseless violence aggressively and these defendants deserve every day of the prison sentence that they will receive.”
DA Singas said on two occasions on Dec. 26, 2015, the defendants threw paving bricks and cinderblocks at cars from a Meadowbrook Parkway overpass bridge in Uniondale. During the first incident in the afternoon, the defendants did not hit any vehicles. However, during the second incident at approximately 8 p.m., the defendants struck two vehicles—a BMW and a Jeep—with bricks.
The first car that was hit, a BMW, was traveling northbound on the Meadowbrook when a paving brick smashed through the windshield, shattering glass all over the vehicle. The shattered glass caused a lip laceration and permanent damage to the left eye of a 22-year-old female passenger in the vehicle. The victim has a permanent scar on her cornea and suffers from blurry vision in that eye. The driver of the BMW also suffered a laceration to his shoulder and shoulder pain from where the brick struck him.
The Jeep had approximately $5,000 in damages after it was struck in the second incident.
New York State Police arrested the defendants on Jan. 1, 2016, following an investigation.
Assistant District Attorneys Stefanie Palma and Diana Hedayati of DA Singas’ Vehicular Crimes Bureau are prosecuting this case. Andrew Denton is represented Edward and Kristin Galison, Esqs. Jacob Palant is represented by William McCulloh, Esq.
