LI Armed Robber Who Bolted, Assaulted Cop, Nabbed In Queens: Police

HOLBROOK, NY — A Long Island man — on the lam for over a day after the armed robbery of a gas station and the assault of an officer early Thursday morning — was eventually nabbed in Queens on Friday afternoon, Suffolk police said.

Police say that Joshua Basile went inside Quick Chek Gas Station on Veterans Memorial Highway in Bohemia and then stole "assorted food" before bolting in a 2022 Ford Explorer at about 1:35 a.m. He next went inside of a BP Gas Station down the road in Islandia, "pointed a handgun at the clerk," and demanded some cash and cigarettes, police said.

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K-9 Section officer Ralph Dimasi responding to an alert, which was broadcasted over law enforcement radio band, saw an Explorer matching the description of the vehicle involved in the robbery, and during a traffic stop, asked Basile to turn the vehicle off, police said.

But when Basile was asked to get out of the vehicle, he started it and then "struggled" with both Dimasi and backup officers as they tried to stop him from making another run, police say, adding that when Basile placed the vehicle into drive and then sped off, he struck officer Dimasi, and knocked him to the ground.

Dimasi was airlifted by helicopter to Stony Brook University Hospital for treatment of "non-life-threatening injuries," police said.

Basile was found with the help of "multiple other units," as he was driving the Explorer on the Long Island Expressway in Queens at about 2 p.m. on Friday, police said, adding that as officers tried to get him to stop, he struck and disabled a police vehicle and then — he bolted, again.

He was found on Jamaica Avenue in Queens Village and was taken into custody at about 4 p.m. on Friday, police said.

Basile, 35, of Holbrook, was charged with first-degree robbery and criminal use of a firearm, police said. He was additionally charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, as well as assault and petty larceny, according to police.

Basile will be held overnight at the 3rd Precinct and he is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Saturday.

BP Gas and Quick Chek did not respond to requests for comment.

Check back later for updates to this developing story.