Search On For Carjacker Who Attacked Owner With Baseball Bat: Police

RIVERHEAD, NY — Police are on the lookout for a carjacker who attacked the vehicle's owner with a baseball bat, authorities said.

According to Riverhead Town Police, a call came in at 3:50 a.m. on Monday from a clerk at the 7-Eleven on Old Country Road in Riverhead, who said that a man had reported someone breaking the windows to his vehicle and stealing the car.

When police arrived, the victim said that a man he didn't know had forced himself into the man's car, driving off with the man inside, to a wooded area off Kroemer Avenue in Riverhead, authorities said.

While in the wooded area the man told the victim to get out and when he refused, the carjacker got out of the vehicle and began to hit the vehicle with a baseball bat he had hidden in his clothing, police said.

The vehicle was severely damaged with the driver’s window and the windshield broken, police said; the hood of the vehicle was also damaged.

The victim fled the scene and called police, authorities said.

Responding units arrived on scene with the carjacker gone upon arrival, police said.

A Riverhead Police K9 officer responded and conducted a track for the subject, police said.

Evidence was located by the K9 unit, police said.

The Riverhead Detective Division was notified and responded, police said.

The victim’s 1998 Honda Civic-Lx was impounded for forensic analysis, police said.

The investigation is ongoing; anyone that may have been a witness to the crime is asked to contact the Riverhead Detective Division at (631)727-4500 Ext. 326.