Top Fire and Police Stories of 2011

If the sirens sound in King Park, we do our best to be on the beat to get the story for our readers not long after. Below is a look at some of the top police and fire stories of the past year. Want to give us a tip in 2012? Email editor Jennifer Sloat at: jennifer.sloat@patch.com.

- : A 20-year-old woman, walking along a bike path in Nissequogue River State Park, reported being raped in early April. The reported rapist, described as a 6-foot-tall white male with a thin, muscular build, was never apprehended, according to State Parks Police.

- : One day after his , blowing a whistle in the waters near the mouth of the Nissequogue River, Patrick Luca, 41, by the United States Coast Guard.

- : An apartment fire on Main Street, in a unit above Bagel King, engulfed the unit in mid-December, sending one man to the hospital. As Kings Park Fire Department was partly detained doing its annual 'Santa Run,' East Northport, Nesconset, and other surrounding Fire Departments helped come to the rescue.

- : After a June 5 fight inside a Brentwood pool hall, Kings Park resident Jeovani Guzman-Hernandez, 26, was arrested in mid-June in relation to the killing of Rumaldo Bethancourt-Lopez.

- Just last week a 34-year-old Kings Park man was killed while he was attempting to cross the Jehrico Turnpike in Smithtown.

- : On a hot July night, a Kings Park home on Woodvale Avenue heated up even further when three propane tanks exploded, resulting in a massive fire at the home. Everyone escaped without majory injury, however, as nearly 75 firefighters were called to the scene.

- : In the second reported rape incident to hit Kings Park in a four-month span, 23-year-old Luis Sanchez was charged with first degree rape and two counts of criminal sex act in the first degree. He remains in custody and now faces a total of 10 charges.

- : A residential fire at a Primrose Lane home ripped through the back end of the second floor in early November. All the home's occupants escaped unharmed.

- : A 16-year-old Kings Park boy was hit by a car in the middle of December and sent to the hospital. The boy was airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center and admitted in stable but guarded condition.

- : A Kings Park man was killed riding his motorcycle in Coram in late November, when he collided with a Saturn while driving on Route 25.

- Seamus Byrne, 33 was killed while crossing Main Street in Smithtown after birthday celebration at Napper Tandy's in early March.