Local man helps nab joy-riding suspect

A Roosevelt man was arrested and charged with attempting to rob an all-terrain vehicle known as a “quad” from a BP gas station on Merrick Road in Merrick last week. While police placed the man in handcuffs, a local good Samaritan helped bring him to justice.

According to police, on Aug. 17 at 3 p.m., 20-year-old Symoud Lewis was test-driving a quad that was for sale at the BP station, and he did not return.

John Scalesi, a Bellmore resident and volunteer Nassau County emergency medical technician, heard the report over a fire department scanner, and later spotted the man around Babylon Turnpike at 3:45 p.m. and dialed 911, police said.

Scalesi told the Herald that he followed the man into the Merrick Fire Department headquarters on Meadowbrook Road, where he and two firefighters subdued him until police arrived to make the arrest.

Lewis was charged with petit larceny, disorderly conduct, and vehicle and traffic law infractions.