Southampton Town Police officers subdued and arrested a man who, according to Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki, was threatening officers with knives, and possibly trying to commit “suicide by cop.”
After receiving report of a woman involved in a physical domestic situation, just before 10:30 on the night of January 19, several patrol units, detectives and New York State Police Troopers responded to a residence in Hampton Bays.
The man, 19-year-old Eric Criollo, came out of the house brandishing two knives, police said. He approached one of the Troopers in a threatening manner, then fled. Securing a perimeter around the scene, police searched and located Criollo. They used both pepper spray and a blunt impact projectile — non lethal ammunition — to subdue Criollo.
Following a standard post-pepper spray visit to the hospital, Criollo was booked for misdemeanor counts of criminal obstruction of breathing, criminal mischief in the fourth degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree, plus felony charges of first degree criminal contempt, and menacing a police officer.
