Andrew Denton, Jacob Palant arrested in tosses of brick, cinder blocks from overpass, cops say

Andrew Denton, 17, of East Meadow, left, and Jacob Palant, 19, of Syosset were charged Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, after a weeklong investigation into a brick and cinder-block throwing incident on the Meadowbrook State Parkway on Dec. 26, 2015. Credit: NY State Police
Two Long Island teenagers accused of tossing bricks and cinder blocks at cars on the Meadowbrook State Parkway, injuring two people, are facing felony charges.
Andrew R. Denton, 17, of East Meadow, and Jacob A. Palant, 19, of Syosset, are each charged with second-degree assault and criminal mischief, both felonies, and misdemeanor reckless endangerment.
Both pleaded not guilty Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead.
Judge Scott Fairgrieve set bond at $1 million for Denton, who is facing additional unrelated charges. Palant was released on $25,000 cash bail.
Outside the courtroom, Scott Palant said his son is innocent. “He did not throw anything,” he said. “I trust my son.”
Reached later, Denton’s father, Adam Denton, declined to comment.
State Police said the teenagers threw the bricks and blocks from an overpass at the campus of Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale on Dec. 26.
One object crashed through the windshield of a 1996 BMW about 8 p.m., sending glass shards into the left eye of a 22-year-old passenger and causing about $1,500 in damage to the car.
There was permanent damage to the woman’s cornea, a prosecutor said in court Saturday. The driver suffered a bruised shoulder but declined treatment.
Another object struck a 2015 Jeep, causing an estimated $5,000 in damage, the prosecutor said. No one in the Jeep was hurt.
State Police Lt. Pete Healey said investigators identified Denton and Palant after conducting nearly 70 interviews over four days in neighborhoods near the overpass.
“They did a lot of work,” Healey said. “That’s a needle in a haystack trying to figure something like that out.”
Palant and Denton were taken into custody Friday night.
Denton is also charged with violating an order of protection by calling his ex-girlfriend and threatening to break into her house, slit her throat and shoot her mother in the face. In that case, he was charged with felony first-degree criminal contempt, and second-degree criminal contempt and second-degree aggravated harassment, both misdemeanors.