Police seek driver of white car in Syosset schools threat

Nassau County police are looking for a man driving a white Nissan Altima who reportedly shouted a bomb threat near an entrance to a school in the Syosset Central School District.

On Tuesday, at about 7:20 a.m., a man driving the car made the threat to a security guard near the gate of South Woods Middle School, 99 Pell Lane, Nassau County police and school officials said.

"He yells out the passenger window, 'There's a bomb in the building!' " Second Squad Det. Sgt. Robert Atchison said.

The vehicle did not slow down while making the threat.

"It was too fast to get a plate number," Atchison said.

Atchison said the driver was thought to be in his late 30s or early 40s. If he is caught, he could be criminally charged with harassment and falsely reporting an incident.

The South Woods school and Syosset Senior High School were evacuated as officials searched both buildings. Students from the nearby elementary school, whose session hadn't yet begun for the day, were kept out of the building while police searched, Atchison said.

The search turned up empty, and students and faculty were allowed to re-enter the schools after the about hour-and-a-half-long canvass.

The Syosset Central School District did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday.

Tuesday's threat was at least the second time this year that the Second Squad had investigated a case involving the district.

In January, a teacher of English there was arrested on a criminal charge that he kept an inappropriate journal correspondence with a young student that police deemed "immoral and unhealthy."

An attorney for that teacher, Ian Edrich, has said Edrich was innocent, and the case is due back in court next week.