Third arrest in Rockville Centre Roxen Road assault

A Rockville Centre teen, Kevin Coyle, 18, has been arrested in connection with an incident that took place shortly before midnight on June 18 in which a group of five to eight youths allegedly beat up a 43-year-old man on Roxen Road, sending him to the hospital with serious injuries.

A police source said that Coyle, of 4 Woodgreen Pl., turned himself in at 11:05 p.m. on July 12 to Nassau County detectives at the First Precinct in Baldwin. He was arraigned on July 13 in First District Court in Hempstead, on a charge of gang assault, a felony that carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Coyle's bail was set in the amount of $10,000 bond or $2,500 cash. His attorney, John Carmen, did not immediately return calls Friday afternoon. Coyle is due back to court on July 23.

Coyle, who played on his school’s basketball team, is the third recent South Side High School graduate to be arrested in connection with the alleged assault, the focus of much discussion and outrage in the community. William Moore, 18, of 4 Broadway was arrested on June 20 and Matthew DiPerna, also 18, of 425 Hempstead Ave., was arrested the following day. Both were also charged with gang assault.

According to police, a group of local teenagers verbally harassed a resident, shouting obscenities, as she walked her dog on Nottingham Road. The woman grew fearful, police said, and ran home and told her husband about the incident. The two drove around the neighborhood looking for the teens, planning to demand an apology from them, and found the group on Roxen Road.

When the man confronted the teens, they allegedly attacked and injured him, police said, adding that a second man, who lives nearby, was also attacked when he attempted to help his neighbor, and the woman was thrown to the ground during the altercation.

According to the felony complaint, provided by District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office, DiPerna allegedly "'Field Goal' kick[ed]" the husband in the head as he was down the ground, and was about to do so again when the neighbor intervened. The complaint also states that the wife of the first victim pulled Coyle off of her husband, at which point Coyle allegedly said, "you're never gonna prove any of this."

The report goes on to say that, after the initial attack, Moore allegedly punched the husband in the head, causing him to fall into a planter and then onto the sidewalk. The group of attackers then fled west from the scene.

Neither the neighbor nor the woman required medical attention, but her husband was taken by police to nearby Mercy Medical Center, where he was treated for a fractured rib that required approximately 15 stitches, multiple contusions, a laceration on his face and an injury to his jaw, and eventually released.