Homeless man arrested in Bellmore after robbery, assault

After he fled through Merrick and Bellmore, a homeless Hempstead man was arrested last week by Nassau County police officers in connection with stabbings in Freeport and north Long Beach.

Eddie Harris, 32, was taken into custody at Grand Avenue Middle School at 5:40 a.m. on Oct. 2. Police said that Harris was fleeing from the scene of a reported stabbing and robbery in Freeport.

According to police officials, Harris approached a 47-year-old man in front of Laundry Palace, on Merrick Road in Freeport, and stabbed him in the arm, chest and back in addition to taking his wallet.

Harris then got in his car and drove east, toward Merrick, police said. In his effort to evade police, they said, he crashed his car into a tree on Camp Avenue in Merrick, and then ran off through Merrick and Bellmore. When officers found him on Grand Avenue, he was arrested without incident.

Police said their investigation revealed that Harris had assaulted another man in front of his home, on California Place in north Long Beach, the day before the Freeport incident. At 11:05 p.m. on Oct. 1, Harris stabbed a 35-year-old man in the stomach, according to police.

For the incident in Freeport, he was charged with first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree robbery, second-degree robbery, second-degree assault, criminal possession of stolen property and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. For the north Long Beach incident, he was charged with first-degree assault and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Chris Munzing, a spokesman for the Nassau County district attorney’s office, said that Harris was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Oct. 2. His bail was set at $310,000, cash or bond. Harris is represented by an attorney from the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, which does not comment on cases.

The unidentified victims were rushed to local hospitals, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.