Cops: Man with weapon at diner arrested

Officers responding to a 911 call reporting a suspicious man with a weapon at the Embassy Diner in Bethpage stopped a vehicle not far from the scene Friday and arrested a Hicksville man they said was carrying a loaded .357-caliber semiautomatic handgun.

Gregory Cannell, 48, of Scooter Lane, was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon after Nassau County Eighth Precinct police officers stopped his black Honda Pilot on Hempstead Turnpike at 2:30 a.m.

No one was injured in the incident, police said.

Police said when officers arrived at the diner they were advised Cannell had left the scene in the Honda, and police found the vehicle, which had New Jersey plates, nearby.

Cannell is scheduled for arraignment Saturday in First District Court in Hempstead.