Bay Shore, Roosevelt men arrested after street fight, cops say
Two men were arrested after a street fight in Hempstead early Monday, one suspect charged with weapons possession after responding officers found a loaded handgun in the man’s pocket and the second suspect charged in connection with a domestic incident that occurred 19 minutes earlier, police said.
Nassau County police said officers responding to the initial disturbance call found the two men fighting on the street outside a strip mall on Fulton Avenue/Hempstead Turnpike at 3:39 a.m. Officers made “verbal commands” for the men to stop and, at that time, “what appeared to be a handgun” was seen in the pocket of one of the two suspects, police said. A later search recovered a black 9-mm Ruger pistol and a magazine containing eight rounds from the pocket of one of the men, police said.
Police said Derek Belizaire, 34, of Manatuck Boulevard, Bay Shore, was charged with second-degree and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, as well as disorderly conduct.
The second suspect, identified as Dominic Cowan, 36, of Fredricks Avenue, Roosevelt, was charged with third-degree robbery, third-degree assault, aggravated family offense, fourth-degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.
Police said Cowan had been involved in the earlier domestic incident, which occurred in Hempstead at 3:20 a.m. and involved an unnamed 38-year-old woman.
Police said that incident involved “a verbal argument that escalated into the defendant [Cowan] assaulting the victim,” then breaking a telephone — and taking her keys.
The victim also suffered bruising to her arms and body, as well as a laceration to her hand, police said.
Police could not say whether the fight between Cowan and Belizaire was connected to the initial domestic incident.
It also was not immediately clear where the initial domestic incident took place.
Belizaire and Cowan were both scheduled for arraignment Tuesday in First District Court in Hempstead.
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