NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Police arrested three suspects Monday and were searching for more after they were allegedly captured on video surrounding and smashing three occupied police cars in Queens early Sunday morning.
The NYPD released images Monday of the mostly masked suspects, who were attending a late-night car meetup in Ozone Park that was apparently being broken up by the NYPD officers who were targeted.
In a statement following the arrests, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tish said, “We will not tolerate lawlessness or vandalism aimed at the police. We arrested several individuals for crimes that endangered our cops and our streets. Rest assured, we'll be back soon for the rest of them.”
The attack unfolded around 1 a.m. at Rockaway Boulevard and 97th Avenue, where officers responded to a group who was “recklessly operating multiple vehicles” in the area, police said.
Wild video posted to Instagram shows the crowd overwhelming the police—jumping on an unmarked police car, denting its hood and smashing its windshield with kicks and a traffic cone.
Police said three police cars were damaged in the act of vandalism, including multiple dents and broken windows. The suspects fled the scene in different directions.
Hours after releasing the images, police said they had arrested three of the suspects on various charges.
Among them was Jordi Montesquieu, 23, Tyler Newman, 18, and Tristan Nandaram 18.
Montesquieu was charged with unlawful fleeing, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and obstruction of government administration.
Nandaram was charged with criminal mischief, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, and obstruction of government administration.
Newman was charged with obstruction of government administration.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.