Overview
- Police responded after a 1:10 a.m. 911 call early Sunday to Express Drive North in Yaphank and officers from the SCPD Street Takeover Task Force observed cars racing before the crowd dispersed.
- Officers later stopped a truck towing a trailer carrying a race car, impounded the truck, trailer and race car, and issued tickets or charges to four men from Meriden, Connecticut.
- The four defendants are Christian Vargas Hernandez, 28; John Maldonado, 33; Lawrence Torres, 30; and Efrain Rivera, 35, and charges include unlawful speed contests, sideshows and races.
- Hernandez faces additional counts for reckless driving and unlawfully using a motor vehicle to flee a police officer after he attempted to flee the scene.
- Authorities say the investigation remains active with video evidence documenting the event, possible further arrests or impoundments, and the action builds on a task force set up in November 2024 to curb frequent Long Island street takeovers.