LI briefs

PATCHOGUE: Man charged in theater bomb threat

A homeless man shouting that he had a bomb burst into a rehearsal at a Patchogue theater Saturday afternoon, sending performers fleeing in their tap shoes and prompting a police investigation that closed off the area.

No bomb was found after police evacuated the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts at 71 E. Main St. and nearby businesses, police said.

Police charged Terry Nixon, 52, with the felony crime of falsely reporting an incident, authorities said. Nixon was to be arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Central Islip, police said.

Clara Iacopelli, the theater's general manager, told Newsday that her staff said, "There's a guy on stage with a backpack, and he's saying that there's a bomb in the bag" and he's going to blow up the theater. Iacopelli said Saturday's show, "Foot & Fiddle: Keep The Country Dancing," scheduled for 8 p.m., would go on.

MATTHEW CHAYES

BOHEMIA: Cops: He drove high with teen in car

Police arrested a Bohemia man high on drugs who crashed his car Saturday with a 13-year-old passenger inside, Suffolk police said.

The driver, Anthony Pulizzi, was charged under Leandra's Law, the state statute passed last year that makes it a felony to drive drunk, high or both with a child as a passenger, police said.

According to police, Pulizzi, 28, drove his 1995 Toyota sedan off the road and into a fence on Apple Street and Route 111 in Brentwood at 11:26 a.m.

His girlfriend and his girlfriend's sister, 13, were in the car. Both climbed out of the car. The younger girl was treated at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore for minor injuries and released to her father, police said.

Pulizzi, 28, of Chelsea Court, was charged with aggravated driving while under the influence of drugs, aggravated unlicensed operation and endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

Pulizzi was set to be arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Central Islip, police said.

MATTHEW CHAYES

WYANDANCH: Death on tracks an accident, police say

A man was struck and killed by a Long Island Rail Road train at the Wyandanch station Friday in what appears to be an accident, officials said.

A train that left Penn Station at 5:41 p.m. due in to the Ronkonkoma station at 6:49 p.m. struck an unidentified man between ages 40 and 50 at Straight Path Road in Wyandanch. Witnesses told MTA police the crossing gates were functioning properly, the MTA said. Trains were temporarily stopped in both directions and caused delays on that line of up to 90 minutes.

BILL MASON