Two teenage drivers were charged with racing at speeds of 120 mph in Bayport on Friday night, Suffolk County police said
Anthony Obando and Johan Martinez Jimenez, both 19 and of Brentwood, were cited after members of the Suffolk County Police Street Takeover Task Force observed them racing eastbound on the Sunrise Highway near Veterans Memorial Highway around 10:40 p.m., according to a Suffolk police press release.
Suffolk County formed the task force in November after a street race injured a police officer and caused a fiery crash near Sunrise Highway in Islip.
Officers saw Friday night’s race going on while they were on patrol and stopped the drivers without a pursuit, according to a police spokesman.
Obando was driving a 2015 Toyota Corolla while Jimenez was driving a 2008 Honda Civic, police said.The drivers will be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip
on March 6 on charges of unlawful speed contest, reckless driving and other traffic violations.
If convicted, the drivers could face jail time, fines and license
suspensions or revocations under state law.
On Jan. 5 Officer Brendon Gallagher, a member of the Street Takeover
Task Force, was critically injured in a crash as he tried to stop a
driver speeding at over 100 mph on the Long Island Expressway. He was
discharged from Stony Brook University Hospital on Jan. 27.
By Peter Gill
