Stolen vehicle from Bayville pulled from Hempstead Harbor

At around 8 a.m. on May 24, the Glen Cove Police Department, Glen Cove Volunteer Fire Department, Glen Cove Harbor Patrol, the Nassau County Marine Bureau and other first responder agencies responded to a report of a car submerged approximately 150 feet off of the boat ramp on Garvies Point Road.

No one was in the vehicle that was later determined to have been stolen from Bayville. “We became aware that the car was in the Hempstead Harbor and with the help of Nassau County divers and aviation, we wanted to make sure there was no one in the car,” Detective Lt. John Nagle of the GCPD said. “It appears to us at this point that based upon the windows being left open and sunroof open, that it was intentionally submerged in the creek there.”

According to eyewitness Peter M. Budraitis, Oyster Bay's Dive team responded as mutual aid was requested to access the submerged car. A towing crane retrieved the vehicle by 12:30 p.m., he said, after Nassau County Police Divers secured towing lines to the vehicle submerged in eight to 10 feet of water.

“It went smoothly,” Nagle said. “Our major concern at that point was, ‘Do we have someone that is in the car that drowned?’ So that’s why we had all the other agencies come out to give us a hand to make sure . . . God forbid there was someone in the car.”

And while no one was found in the car, the investigation of how that stolen vehicle from Bayville ended up in the Hempstead Harbor remains under investigation by the Nassau County Police Department.

“I got there after the water rescue, when everything was done,” Budraitis said. “I’ve been a member of the Hempstead Harbor Club most of my life and I’ve seen quite a few instances of cars backing into the water a little bit too far, but to see a car this far out was a first.”

“It looks like it was potentially put into the water,” he added. “You could tell by looking at the whole scene after the police went away, this was no accident.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Second Precinct of the Nassau County Police Department at (516) 573-6200.