Third arrest in Roxen Road gang assault; residents speak out at Rockville Centre board meeting

Kevin Coyle, 18, of Rockville Centre, has been arrested in connection with an incident 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 Place, turned himself in on July 12 to Nassau County detectives at the 1st Precinct headquarters in Baldwin. He was arraigned the following day in First District Court in Hempstead on a charge of second-degree gang assault, which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
“On the night of the incident, the police told Kevin Coyle and his parents that he was in the clear,” said John Carman, Coyle’s attorney, “and although he’s been arrested, he’s no more guilty today than he was then.”
Coyle’s bail was set at $10,000 bond or $2,500 cash. He is due back to court on July 23.
A former South Side High School basketball player, Coyle is the third recent South Side graduate to be arrested in connection with the assault, which has been 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 taken into custody the following day. Both were also charged with gang assault.
According to police, the beating took place after 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 then drove around the neighborhood looking for the teens, planning to demand an apology from them, and found the group on Roxen Road.
When the woman’s husband confronted the teens, they 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.