A Nassau County police officer shot and killed a man who authorities said was brandishing a baseball bat following a road rage incident in Great Neck on Monday morning, officials said.
When someone honked at him for being stopped at a stop sign at the corner of Maple Street and East Shore Road, the suspect got out of his vehicle and used the bat to smash the window a a van behind him at 10:30 a.m., police said. The suspect then walked up to a second vehicle behind the van and when the driver got out of that vehicle, the suspect hit the driver in the head with a bat, police said. Shortly later, an officer on patrol happened upon the confrontation.
“The suspect moves aggressively toward the police officer with the bat,” said Det. Lt. Richard LeBrun, a police spokesman. “He deploys his Taser, the Taser fails to neutralize him. At this point he has to deploy his service weapon and strikes the individual in the torso area.”
The suspect, whose name was not immediately available, was taken to a local hospital, where he died an hour later. The officer, who was on the job a month, was not injured.
Treated for their injuries were the driver who was hit in the head and a second person that the suspect struck when the victim tried to help the officer.
Police said no further details were available, citing the early stage of the investigation.
