Suffolk County Police arrested a man who was threatening bystanders with a machete at the parking lot of Costco in Lake Grove yesterday afternoon.
Numerous witnesses reported a naked man waving a machete at people in the Costco parking lot, located at 3000 Middle Country Road, at approximately 1:05 p.m. Monday afternoon. The man then barricaded himself inside the cab of the 2007 Freightliner tractor-trailer he had been operating for NYC Transport of 4th Ave., East Orange, New Jersey.
When Officers Richard Regula, Christopher Tenbrink, Anthony Sepe, Jean Hutchinson and Sergeants Keith Serper and Brian Michels, arrived on the scene, the man initially refused to exit the vehicle. When the man attempted to exit the vehicle with the machete in hand, the officers held the doors shut to contain the violent suspect. The man then opened a small window and tried to exit through the window and threatened the officers with the 20-inch machete.
Officers Regula and Tenbrink and Sergeant Serper approached the man and got close enough to discharge a Taser. The officers, along with Sergeants Serper and Michels, then entered the cab, subdued the suspect, Jose Amaya, and placed him into custody.
No bystanders were injured. Amaya was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for evaluation.
Amaya, 37, of 1060 Joselson Ave., Bay Shore, who also lived in the Freightliner’s cab, was charged with Menacing a Police Officer, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 4th Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon 4th Degree. He is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on May 19th.
A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Source: Suffolk County Police Headquarters