Man With Baseball Bat Fatally Shot By Police After Apparent Road Rage Incident
GREAT NECK (CBSNewYork) -- A road rage incident ended in with the bat-wielding suspect being fatally shot by police in Great Neck Monday.
The incident happened at Bayview Avenue and East Shore Road at around 10:30 a.m.
It all began at a stop sign. The driver of a Volkswagen was at the sign and apparently refused to move forward. The drivers of two vans behind him honked their horns.
The suspect emerged from the Volkswagen carrying a baseball bat and began swinging, smashing the windshields of the vans.
The driver of one the vans got out to confront the suspect and was hit in the head with the bat.
A rookie Nassau County police officer on routine patrol stumbled upon the scene. As he confronted the suspect, he was also joined by a Good Samaritan.
"That officer showed great restraint and finally pulled out his Tazer. He tazed the individual. It phased him a little bit but it did not stop him. He then proceeded toward the officer again - all along the officer was giving instructions to put the bat down," said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder. "A civilian got involved at that point to help the officer, and that civilian was struck in the head with the bat... He turned on our officer, his last instruction was to put the bat down, and the officer had no other option but to fire."
The suspect was shot in the chest and later died at North Shore University Hospital.
"It was a lot of ambulances and cars, someone clearly injured to his head, another man looked like he passed out, they were trying to save him," said Anna Rooney.
The two assault victims beaten in the head with the bat were also hospitalized.
Sources told CBS2 the suspect has been identified Michael Ward, who has being sought for a crime spree in New York City that started Saturday.
At 8:35 p.m. Saturday night, a 77-year-old man was punched and robbed $20 in the Bronx. The other three incidents took place today. Police say that at 4:20 a.m. a pedestrian was fatally struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run at Metropolitan Avenue. In Manhattan just 10 minutes later, a woman delivering newspapers had her Honda Odyssey stolen at Madison and Montgomery Streets. A few minutes after that, at West Street and Harrison Street, a man was punched in the face and had his 2018 Acura stolen. The hijacked Odyssey was left at the scene.
Sources told CBS2 Ward was the suspect in all of those incidents. Besides being sought by the NYPD, the suspect has links to the state of Virginia, where he has been charged in at least 13 prior assaults and robberies.