NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A teen who allegedly drove two Hispanic men to remote locations on Long Island and attacked them before targeting a third man has been arrested and charged with several hate crimes, police said Monday.
Christopher Cella, 19, of Selden, allegedly drove to La Placita — a deli on Horseblock Road in Farmingville — around 8:15 a.m. on Friday and picked up a 52-year-old Holbrook resident, Suffolk County police said in a press release.
After he picked the man up, Cella brought him to an abandoned construction site on Blue Point Road in Farmingville and attacked him, police said.
Less than an hour later, Cella drove to a 7-Eleven on North Ocean Avenue in Farmingville, where he picked up a 60-year-old Medford man, according to police.
Cella drove the man to the Blue Ridge Condominium Complex on Granny Road in Medford and started choking and attacking him, but the man managed to escape, police said.
The next morning, Cella returned to the 7-Eleven and picked up a 47-year-old Brentwood man, cops said. Cella tried to drive him to a remote location, but the man became “suspicious” and managed to flee the car, police said.
Cella was arrested at his home around 10:15 a.m. on Sunday, according to police.
He has been charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment, two counts of criminal obstruction of breathing, two counts of second-degree hate-crime unlawful imprisonment and one count of first-degree hate crime reckless endangerment, police said.
His attorney information wasn’t immediately available Monday.
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