Cops: Robbery suspect chased by victims in Uniondale

Four friends robbed at gunpoint Thursday in Uniondale chased the assailant through a cemetery and onto Nassau Road, where passing police officers witnessed the chase - and arrested the gunman, police said.

Spencer Brown, 23, of 72 Jerusalem Ave., Uniondale, was charged with first-degree criminal use of a firearm, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and two counts of first-degree robbery, police said. He was scheduled for arraignment Friday in First District Court in Hempstead.

Nassau County police said four friends were cleaning out a car in front of a house on Arthur Street when Brown approached them, displayed the handgun, stole a backpack and ran toward the cemetery, which bordered a dead end.

Police said he jumped the fence into Greenfield Cemetery as the robbery victim and his friends gave chase. The group chased Brown onto Nassau Road, where police spotted the chase and stopped Brown on nearby Park Avenue. It was there they made the arrest.