On September 19th, the Nassau County Legislature honored two Police Officers and two Narcotics Vice Squad Detectives as Legislative Top Cops for September 2022, for their quick and heroic actions in stopping a victim from being murdered by an MS-13 gang in August.
On August 20th, Officers Kyle Fagan and John Ingardia were investigating a motel along with Narcotics Vice Detectives Christopher Ingram and Ryan Hayden., where they observed a suspicious vehicle commit a VTL violation and pulled it over. As the Officers approached the vehicle, they noticed a passenger in distress in the rear of the vehicle trying to get the officer’s attention and that the other passengers were nervous and reaching around the inside of the car. The Officers and Detectives asked all the occupants to exit the vehicle. One took off running and took a large object out of his pants and threw it to the ground. Officers followed and caught up to the runner, and found the object was a machete.
The three arrested occupants of the vehicle were determined to be MS-13 gang members, and the distressed passenger was their victim. He was lured to the motel and assaulted with the handle of the machete and robbed of $300, then forced to withdraw another $1000 from an ATM at knifepoint. They were in the process of taking him to be murdered when the police pulled the car over.
Shown in photo, left to right: Legislator John Giuffré; Legislator Mazi Melesa Pilip; Officer John Ingardia; Officer Kyle Fagan; and Legislator Steve Rhoads.