Shoplifting suspect injures 2 Nassau cops

A shoplifting suspect swinging a walking stick hit a Nassau policeman in the face Friday night in West Hempstead, fracturing the officer's nose, authorities said.

A second officer was injured in the struggle to subdue the suspect, according to police.

Laroy Floyd, 50, of Holly Place in West Hempstead, was arrested on charges including assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and resisting arrest.

The officers, from the Elmont-based Fifth Precinct, were chasing Floyd after he threatened a CVS store employee, 34, with the stick earlier in the evening.

Because of a prior shoplifting arrest, Floyd had been banned from the CVS store at 814 Hempstead Ave., police said. On Friday, an employee there ordered him to leave.

The confrontation with police happened a short time later, at Hempstead and Eagle avenues.

Floyd hit one cop with the stick, injuring the officer's nose and left knee; the other officer hurt his right hand and right knee. Both were treated and released. Police didn't say whether Floyd was hurt.

Floyd was arraigned Saturday at First District Court in Hempstead before Judge Martin J. Massell, on four felonies and two misdemeanors. Massell set bail at $10,000 bond or $5,000 cash, according to court records. It wasn't clear whether he had posted the bail. He's due back in court on Tuesday.

The records show Floyd was represented by Nassau's Legal Aid Society, which by practice does not comment on its cases.