Naked Man With Machete Arrested In Costco Parking Lot Lake Grove

Suffolk County Police today arrested a man that was threatening bystanders with a machete at a Lake Grove parking lot this afternoon.

Numerous witnesses reported a naked man waving a machete at people in the Costco parking lot, located at 3000 Middle Country Road, at approximately 1:05 p.m.  The man then barricaded himself inside the cab of the 2007 Freightliner tractor-trailer he had been operating for NYC Transport of 4^th Ave., East Orange, New Jersey. 

When Officers Richard Regula, Christopher Tenbrink, Anthony Sepe, Jean Hutchinson and Sergeants Keith Serper and Brian Michels, arrived on the scene, the man initially refused to exit the vehicle. When the man attempted to exit the vehicle with the machete in hand, the officers held the doors shut to contain the violent suspect.  The man then opened a small window and tried to exit through the window and threatened the officers with the 20-inch machete. 

Officers Regula and Tenbrink and Sergeant Serper approached the man and got close enough to discharge a Taser. The officers, along with Sergeants Serper and Michels, then entered the cab, subdued the suspect, Jose Amaya, and placed him into custody.

No bystanders were injured. Amaya was transported to Stony Brook University Hospital for evaluation.

Amaya, 37, Bay Shore, who also lived in the Freightliner’s cab, was charged with Menacing a Police Officer, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 4^th Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon 4^th Degree. He is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on May 19.

A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.