The Nassau County Police Department said two Queens men and a juvenile from Yonkers had been arrested for allegedly committing grand larceny in Roslyn Estates early Saturday morning.
Detectives in the department’s Burglary Pattern Team were conducting an investigation into a stolen 2019 Land Rover, removed from a residence located on The Intervale April 9.
The investigation led detectives to East Elmhurst in Queens, where they found the Land Rover and three occupants parked on 80th Street.
As detectives approached the vehicle and identified themselves, the auto “intentionally hit the police car and then drove backwards at a high rate of speed, narrowly missing detectives on foot before striking two parked vehicles,” the department said.
The occupants then fled on foot in different directions and were taken into police custody after brief pursuits. No injuries were reported.
Detectives identified the defendants as Matthew Garcia, 22, and Gabriel Lora, 18, both of Queens. The department does not release names of juvenile offenders, with the 17-year-old defendant determined to have been from Yonkers.
The department also said that the three were suspected in other larcenies of autos and incidents involving thefts from autos at multiple locations that have occurred throughout Nassau County since April 1.
Garcia, who drove the car, is charged with five counts of grand larceny, three counts of petit larceny, and criminal possession of stolen property, police said. Lora and the juvenile offender are both charged with two counts of criminal possession of stolen property, according to the department.
The three defendants were arraigned April 12 at the First District Court in Hempstead. Garcia will return to court on May 8, while Lora will return on May 15.
