Bank Robbery Suspects Arrested After Police Chase, Crash in Syosset

Photo: (l-r) Kevin Highland and Murray Hawkins

UPDATED Thursday at 1 p.m.:

SYOSSET, NY- Authorities apprehended two Queens men who robbed a Bay Shore bank following a police chase in Syosset on Wednesday morning, police said.

Murray Hawkins, 35, of Laurelton, and Kevin Highland, 35, of Jamaica, were arrested and charged with first degree robbery for robbing the Capital One bank located on Sunrise Highway at the Westfield South Shore Mall at 9 a.m.

According to police, the robbers fled the scene in a 2015 Ford Escape and were later seen by patrol officers in Wyandanch at approximately 9:15 a.m.

Highland, who was driving the SUV, failed to pull the vehicle over and authorities continued to pursue the suspects from Suffolk to Nassau County, police said.

Authorities followed the vehicle northbound on Bagatelle Road, to the westbound Long Island Expressway, to northbound Route 135, where the SUV crashed into a Nassau County police vehicle while exiting onto Jericho Turnpike at 9:30 a.m., police said.

The men in the SUV fled in opposite directions following the crash. One suspect was arrested near the Eagle Rock apartment complex and the second suspect was arrested after attempting to run across the expressway, the Long Island Press reports.

Highland was additionally charged with unlawfully fleeing a police officer and first degree robbery for a bank robbery that occurred at a Capital One, located at 8 Little East Neck Road in Babylon, on Dec. 29.

All Syosset schools were in a lockout following the police chase, according to message posted on the district’s website.

Here’s the message in full:

“At approximately 9:50 AM this morning we were advised by the Nassau County Police Department that there was police activity on Jericho Turnpike in the Syosset school district. At their request and as a precautionary measure we have instituted lockout procedures at all of our school buildings. This means we will not allow any persons in or out of our buildings until the police have issued an all clear directive.”

Jericho Turnpike was closed in both directions from Crossway Park Drive to Cedar Street and Route 135 was closed from the northbound exit of the Long Island Expressway following the crash.

Image via SCPD

Photo by Daniel Hochler: Police swarm the Eagle Rock Apartments in Woodbury Wednesday morning.