Accused drag racer in court

Driving 145 mph on the Long Island Expressway is foolish, but it's no felony, said the defense attorney for one of two men charged with racing at that speed before crashing spectacularly in Islandia in early March.

Joseph Skarka, 20, pleaded not guilty Thursday to first-degree reckless endangerment, a felony, and numerous other charges. Suffolk County Court Judge Gary Weber kept his bail at $75,000 bond. Skarka's co-defendant, Jeffrey Browne, will be arraigned next week.

"This defendant and another were taking part in a speed contest," said Assistant District Attorney Ian Fitzgerald.

Skarka, of Central Islip, was driving a red 2005 Dodge Neon SRT-4, while Browne, 21, of Bohemia, was driving a yellow 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, police said at the time.

A Suffolk deputy in the median near Exit 59 in Ronkonkoma clocked the Dodge and Mitsubishi at more than 140 mph, more than 2 1/2 times the 55-mph speed limit. They crashed yards apart after leaving the westbound LIE on March 3. One car exploded after careening into a gas station and the other crashed into the fence of a Hooters restaurant on the north service road at Exit 58. No one was seriously injured.

But defense attorney Steven Raiser said this was no speed contest. Skarka and Browne were driving too fast, he conceded, but they weren't racing, fleeing from police or endangering anyone else on an open highway shortly after midnight.

"To me, that's an overreach," he said of the felony charge. "That is such an aggressive stance to take on a kid who has no criminal record, not even a traffic ticket."

Raiser denied there was a police chase, noting that the deputy who arrived at the crash scene was not the one who clocked the speeders. And other than themselves and their passengers -- none of whom were seriously injured -- Raiser said the drivers endangered no one.

Skarka works at a restaurant and hopes to study culinary arts at Suffolk County Community College, he said.

"This is not some punk kid," Raiser said.