Man charged in Freeport fatal car crash

A Hempstead man was charged with manslaughter Saturday because his car hit another vehicle, killing the driver, while fleeing an altercation outside a Freeport bar, police said.

The Mitsubishi Galant driven by Lloyd Williams, 28, of Grove Street, struck a 1997 Dodge Intrepid at 3:09 a.m. near the intersection of Guy Lombardo Avenue and Pine Street, police said, splitting the car into two pieces.

Chad Whethers, 24, of Roosevelt, was pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the Mitsubishi suffered a broken neck, police said.

Williams was found in a nearby yard and was transported to a hospital, police said. He is charged with second-degree manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide and five other charges.

Moments before the crash, police said, the Mitsubishi left the Phase Bar, 365 S. Bayview Ave., where an employee had been in a physical altercation with at least two patrons.

The dispute continued outside and a gunshot was heard. Williams and one other patron fled the scene in the Mitsubishi, police said.

A Freeport Village police officer in an unmarked car noticed the Mitsubishi speeding and ignoring stop signs and followed it, Nassau cops said. The officer later came upon the fatal crash.

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It wasn't immediately clear how far the police car tailed the Mitsubishi before the crash.

A witness and a law enforcement source said that the police car had put on its lights and ordered the driver to pull over.

Luis Carlos, 52, who owns a computer business on the same block, said he had just finished doing his laundry at a laundromat about a block from the bar when he heard a gunshot.

Carlos said he saw a man run and then attempt to hide behind a series of cars. The man then tried to get into a blue sedan that turned out to be the police officer's car, Carlos said.

Moments later, the Mitsubishi sedan pulled up and the man climbed in, then the car drove off, Carlos said.

The officer in the blue sedan then activated the vehicle's emergency lights and ordered the suspects to pull over, using his loudspeaker, Carlos said.

"The guy never listened," Carlos said. "What he did was speed up and then he fled."

The law enforcement source confirmed Carlos' account.

A bar employee, Larry McCloud, 41, of Hempstead, was arrested Saturday after picking up a loaded handgun during the altercation and then hiding it in his car, police said. He is charged with criminal possession of a weapon and tampering with physical evidence.

Both McCloud and Williams will be arraigned Sunday, police said.