Cops: Man robbed at gunpoint in Freeport

Freeport

Police investigating

armed robbery of man

Nassau police are investigating after a man, 54, was robbed in Freeport at gunpoint by two men. The victim was walking near Rosedale Avenue and Broadway when two men robbed him of his cellphone and wallet, police said. One of the robbers displayed a small silver handgun, police said.

The robbers fled east on Commercial Street, police said. No one was injured, they said.

Police ask anyone with information to anonymously call 800-244-TIPS.

Jones Beach

State police arrest driver

after chase, car crash

New York State Police arrested a man yesterday after they said he led authorities on a six-mile chase that started at the Jones Beach tower.

A state trooper spotted a 1987 Mazda "operating erratically" about 11:30 a.m. at the tower and attempted to stop the vehicle, police said.

The vehicle, however, did not stop and took off west on Ocean Parkway and then north on the Meadowbrook State Parkway, police said. The car then exited at Merrick Road going east and rear-ended a 2009 BMW, ending the chase, which lasted four minutes.

The drivers of the Mazda and the BMW were taken to Nassau University Medical Center and treated for minor injuries, police said. The Mazda's passenger was arrested, police said. A state police spokesman yesterday was unaware of whether the Mazda's driver was still in custody last night.North Woodmere

Man accused of attacking

74-year-old security guard

Nassau County police charged a man with assault after, authorities say, he attacked a 74-year-old security guard in North Woodmere Saturday.

Steven Pirrera, 36, of Greenport, threw the guard onto the pavement of the Five Towns Shopping Center parking lot, 253-01 Rockaway Tpke., and punched him several times in the head and face, police said.

Pirrera first approached the guard around 3 p.m. while the guard was sitting in a company vehicle and tried to open one of the car doors, police said. Pirrera had lost his keys hours earlier and was upset that the security guard was unable to find his keys, police said.

The guard drove a short distance away but Pirrera approached him a second time and forced the victim out of the car, police said.

The security guard, who suffered pain throughout his body and had a cut above his eye that required stitches, was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Pirrera was charged with second-degree assault and arraigned Sunday in First District Court in Hempstead, officials said.