MTA, LIRR workers help in burlary arrest

Several Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police officers and Long Island Rail Road employees were recognized Thursday for their part in apprehending a man suspected in a series of burglaries in Suffolk County.

At a meeting of the MTA board's railroad committee, LIRR president Helena Williams commended the men and women who worked together to catch Max Schneider, 21, of Dix Hills. Schneider was arrested on board an LIRR train bound for Brooklyn on March 24. He was charged with seven counts of robbery.

Acting on a tip from Suffolk police, MTA police searched for Schneider on two trains before finding him in a train car bathroom.

LIRR workers helped by identifying Schneider from a photograph, giving police a description of a backpack he wore, and also by holding a train at an East New York station until police arrived.

"This was such a dramatic event," Williams said. "Everyone really contributed."