Man steals police SUV in Freeport, crashes it in Merrick

Updated 12:15 p.m., March 11: A Brooklyn man was arrested and charged with grand larceny, weapon possession and a battery of other charges after he stole a Village of Freeport police SUV on Thursday around 10:10 p.m., Nassau County police say.

According to detectives,  Andrew Howard, 36, of East 32nd Street, was driving a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan on North Grove Street in Freeport with two female passengers when he was stopped by Freeport police.

Officers determined that Howard had two outstanding warrants for his arrest. He was handcuffed and placed in the back of the Freeport police SUV. Officers then spoke with his passengers, Dawnfornee Ellison, 39, and Yasmeen Ellison, 41, both of Kingston Avenue in Brooklyn.

According to county police, Howard manipulated his handcuffs to allow him “to gain access to the driver’s side” of the SUV and speed off. He fled northbound on North Grove Street. 

Nassau and Freeport police caught up with him at Babylon and Merrick roads in Merrick, after he struck multiple vehicles near Levy-Lakeside Elementary School. He was arrested on the spot and taken to an area hospital for a medical evaluation, where he was treated for an unrelated health condition.

The two passengers were arrested in Freeport after a gravity knife was found in the Caravan. Gravity knives, which are spring-loaded, are banned by law in New York. Each passenger was charged with one count of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Howard was charged with second-degree grand larceny, two counts of third-degree robbery, first-degree reckless endangerment, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, second-degree escape, resisting arrest, third-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer and false personation.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on March 11 in First District Court in Hempstead. His attorney’s information was unavailable at press time on Friday at 11:45 a.m.