New Cassel man charged with assault, resisting arrest following altercation, cops say

Nassau police on Friday arrested a New Cassel man they said threatened officers conducting an investigation, charging him with two counts of assault and one of resisting arrest.

Kevin Venegas, 26, was also charged with obstructing governmental administration, police said.

In a release, police said officers encountered Vanegas at 10:49 p.m. Friday when they answered reports of an assault at a Broadway address in a New Cassel residential neighborhood. "He was one of the people involved in some kind of altercation that occurred before police arrived," a police spokesman said in an interview.

According to the release, as officers investigated Friday, a "noticeably intoxicated" Vanegas approached and threatened them. One officer suffered an injury to his right hand during the encounter and was taken to a local hospital.

That encounter led to one of the assault charges, the spokesman said. The other stemmed from the initial altercation. Vanegas was scheduled to be arraigned Saturday at First District Court, Hempstead. It was not clear if he had a lawyer.

By Nicholas Spangler

nicholas.spangler@newsday.comspanglernewsday

Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.