By:Jerry Burke
But Fifth Precinct Police say you also might have seen something a little out of the ordinary as you turned the corner on to Sweetman Avenue: a grown man, pants around his ankles, giving people a little show.
According to detectives, officers Anthony Raymond and Thomas Kearney were on a routine plainclothes patrol when they observed a man standing at the corner of Oakley and Sweetman. "The officers observed the man smoking a marijuana cigarette," said Detective Salvatore Scalone of the Fifth Squad. "He was standing at the corner with his pants down, masturbating ... at passing cars."
Scalone said the officers immediately approached the man, later identified as 46-year-old Neil P. Iorio of Mineola. As they moved toward him, Scalone said, Iorio threw the joint away, pulled up his pants and tried to flee on foot. After a short chase, Raymond and Kearney arrested Iorio, who was charged with fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana and public lewdness.
Iorio was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Aug. 28. Police would not comment on the suspect's state of mind at the time of the arrest, and are still investigating why he was in the neighborhood to begin with.
