Five arrested in Wantagh gas station brawl

Five Nassau County men, including a father and two sons, were arrested on assault charges Tuesday night after starting a brawl at a Wantagh gas station when an attendant told one of them he was not old enough to buy cigarettes, police said.

An Eighth Precinct officer responded to a call from the OK Gas Station, 767 Wantagh Ave., regarding an assault at about 7:30 p.m., Nassau County police said. While speaking to the alleged victim, the officer saw a green sport utility vehicle drive into the lot at a "high rate of speed," according to a police department news release.

A police spokeswoman said the five men in the SUV were returning to the station after an attendant had refused to sell one of them cigarettes. That refused sale prompted the original call about an assault, she said.

The men from the SUV pointed at an employee and shouted profanities as the officer warned them several times not to enter the store part of the station, police said. Two of the men tried to enter the store, starting a fight with the officer, police said.

The men then turned their attention toward another attendant, who was pumping gas. That attendant used a 10-foot-long flagpole flying an American flag to defend himself from the men, who were punching and kicking him, police said.

One man took the flagpole from the victim and struck him with it before the officer subdued him, police said. Another man using a different flagpole as a weapon also struck the victim, the release said.

By then, more officers had arrived and all five men were arrested, police said.

Police said the officer was injured in the scuffle and was treated and released at a hospital. None of the attendants required medical attention, police said.

Police said a father and his two sons, all from Levittown, are each charged with assault, possession of a dangerous weapon and obstruction of governmental administration. The men are Richard Vitale, 49, Richard Vitale Jr., 20, and Gregory Vitale, 21, all of 13 Stirrup Lane.

In addition, Christopher Makhmaltchi 19, of 1336 Mell Gate, Seaford, and Nicholas Lazarus 17, of 808 Michele Lane, Wantagh, were charged with assault.

The men were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead.