Police: Bicycle thief wrestles cops, tries to grab officer’s service weapon

Riverhead Police say a bicycle thief became combative and attempted to grab a cop’s service weapon in a scuffle with officers last night at a Route 58 gas station.

Darrell W. Thomas, 34, of Shirley is facing a slew of charges following the incident at a Hess station on Old Country Road near Wal-Mart.

Police said they were called by Walmart security about 7 p.m. last night regarding the theft of a black BMX bicycle by a man who’d left the store heading for Route 58.

Responding officers were alerted to a man matching the description provided by store security who was in possession a new black bicycle at the Hess gas station located on the south side of CR 58 across from Walmart, according to a Riverhead Police press release.

The suspect walked away from the bike as officers approached him in the gas station parking lot. He became combative when stopped and interviewed by police and attempted to flee, police said.

When police tried to subdue him, he began wrestle with the officers, placed his hand on the service weapon of one of the officers and attempted to remove the secured weapon from its holster, according to the police report.

The suspect was eventually subdued, arrested and identified, police said.

Thomas was charged with attempted criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth, resisting arrest, petit larceny, obstructing governmental administration in the second degree and unlawful possession of marijuana, according to the police report.

He was held overnight for arraignment this morning, after which he was remanded to the Suffolk County jail on $10,000 bail, according to police.

Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. By law, a person charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.