Posted on 11/18/2004 12:31:17 PM PST by Hillary's Lovely Legs
I knew a guy who came home very drunk late one night with a big surprise for his wife----a frozen turkey that he had won in a raffle at the bar. Needless to sat,she was not pleased.
He got mad and went to bed with the turkey and passed out. It wasn't a pretty sight in the morning.
He never had another drink.
I just saw an update on this -- they arrested a bunch of the perps, and the poor woman is still in a coma, and the doctors are not sure yet if she's been brain-damaged. And nearly every bone in her face was broken thanks to these thugs. I say the punks should fry.
I grew up on Long Island and it's nothing like upstate is on the rednack part. Maybe you went to the bad parts. Most of Long Island is very nice. Kids are raised in sub-urban environments, just because we don't live on top of eachother doesn't mean we aren't raised the right way.
Members of a heartless Long Island gang that hurled a 20-pound turkey through a driver's windshield were nabbed last night as the victim lay in a coma, cops said. Nearly every bone in the woman's face was broken when the bird was tossed from a moving car - hitting her with a force equivalent to a bowling ball dropped from a 20-story building and causing her to lose control of the steering wheel.
Suffolk Detective Sgt. William Lamb said five teens were under arrest, including the suspected turkey tosser, Farmingdale State University student Ryan Cushing, 18, of Huntington, who was charged with first-degree assault. Four others - driver Jack Cutrone, 18; Steven Manzolina, 17, and Amanda McDonald, 17, all of Selden, and Rachel MacDonald, 17, of Centereach, were slapped with lesser charges, cops said.
"My son was involved, and it's appalling to our entire family," said Jack Cutrone Sr., 45, reached at his home last night. "We're in shock, but we're praying for the injured woman."
"He turned himself in, which helped lead the police to the others," Cutrone Sr. said. "He's a good kid, but we can't believe he would be involved in something this stupid."
The senseless attack was "done on a whim," the father said his son told him.
More suspects were being sought.
"This is something all of us can sympathize with," said Suffolk County Chief of Detectives Kenneth Rau. "I mean, a person, innocent, just riding down the highway. This is a very tragic event."
"It's just a stupid act of violence," said Pete Iglio, 33, the victim's tenant.
Doctors said it was too early to tell whether the 44-year-old woman suffered significant brain damage in Saturday's attack on Portion Road in Lake Ronkonkoma. The Daily News is withholding her name at the request of her family.
As she underwent six hours of grueling surgery to repair shattered bones in her face yesterday, the woman's sister called for prayers. "Right now, we're just praying and thank everybody for their help," she said. "We're praying that my sister wakes up the way she was."
The victim, who is single and lives by herself, has been in a medically induced coma since the Saturday morning crash.
Police originally planned to release a video surveillance tape of seven suspects who bought the turkey minutes before the bird-toss attack. But they abruptly changed their minds as they narrowed in on arrests.
The horrifying incident took place shortly after midnight Saturday morning as the victim drove home with a friend.
Earlier, the gang had smashed a car window and stolen a purse containing a credit card from a car parked outside a multiplex movie theater. The youths first went to two nearby Blockbuster Video stores, then moved on to a Waldbaum's supermarket, where they used the card to buy a heap of groceries, cops said. Among the purchases was a 20-pound fresh turkey.
Some of the suspects were traveling westbound in Cutrone's car on the busy artery when they spotted the victim's car coming the other way, just around the corner from her home. Cushing, who has a prior arrest for criminal tampering, then tossed the turkey out of the rear passenger-side window, police said.
The missile smashed through the windshield and into the woman's face, sending her car careening out of control. The passenger managed to grab the steering wheel, regaining control of the swerving car before it crashed.
As the victim, one of seven siblings, recovered at University Hospital in Stony Brook, relatives and neighbors described her as a kind, selfless woman. "She's just the sweetest person you'll ever meet," one neighbor said. "You're always looking out for road rage, not a flying turkey coming through your windshield."
Maybe it's because I've been up all night, but I found your post freaking hilarious...
Also, we need to have background checks for anyone wanting to buy a turkey at a store grocery store, or turkey show. It's common sense measures like these we all need for 'turkey safety'.
Now there's a phrase you just don't see every day...
So Mom and Dad have enough scratch to send Junior to Farmingdale, eh? Well, not for long they don't.
Well, you can bet a 20lb turkey is heavier than 20 pounds of feathers!
Especially a frozen turkey....
These are not 'good kids'. These are thieves, punks and possibly murderers.
Can you imagine, one day you are just happily driving down the street, the next moment you are in a drug induced coma with every bone in you face broken, because some lowlife scum decided it would be hysterical to throw a turkey out the car.
The senseless attack was "done on a whim," the father said his son told him.
I don't think it was a whim at all. The teens first broke into a car to steal somebody's purse, then they went to the grocery store to buy a turkey, then went out and threw it at this poor woman. At any step along the line, there were opportunities for the thugs to rethink what they were doing. This wasn't what I consider a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. I hope these jerks face attempted murder charges.
Long Island has some strange people.
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