A Centereach man who authorities say was
drunk and recklessly pushing a stroller containing his infant daughter across a busy road late Saturday night was arrested on multiple charges, including child endangerment.
Police were called by security workers at the Centereach Mall reporting that an intoxicated man, whom police later identified as
Adam Groom, 25, was "dangerously pushing a stroller containing a crying baby along Route 25 in Centereach," Suffolk County police said in a statement of the incident that occurred around 11 p.m.
Police caught up with Groom in the parking lot of the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant, where they said
he was trying to buy marijuana from the restaurant's patrons but was unsuccessful.
Sixth Precinct Sergeant Robert Crasto added in an interview Sunday that when police approached Groom, "He wanted to leave. Police didn't want him to leave. When he attempted to walk away, police officers told him he couldn't leave yet and
he swung at one of the officers" with his fist. During the ensuing scuffle, Crasto said
police sprayed Mace at Groom.
Groom was taken to the University Medical Center at Stony Brook for treatment and psychological evaluation, police said. Groom was released from the hospital Sunday morning and transported to First District Court in Central Islip for arraignment.
Groom was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, who police said was
his 3-month-old daughter, and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors, and harassment, a violation. The child was turned over to relatives, police said.
Crasto said the endangerment charge stems from a "combination of factors: the way he was pushing the child.
Witnesses were saying he was actually pushing the carriage and letting go of it" several times. The alleged intoxication was also a factor, he added.
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