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2 Men Killed After Van Crashes Into Dirt Bike On Montauk Highway

BELLPORT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - A Mastic Beach man was under arrested late Thursday afternoon on accusations of running over and killing two young men riding a dirt bike in North Bellport.

As CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported, the crash took place on Montauk Highway at Doane Street and forced the closure of the highway.

A fight over a stolen dirt bike led to the horror and tragedy around 10:15 a.m. The owner of the bike allegedly got into a minivan to chase the suspected thieves, possibly trying to take the law into his own hands.

Witnesses described the dirt bike trying to elude the pursuing minivan when they collided on Montauk Highway just west of the Bellport train station, following an intense cat-and-mouse play for several miles.

The chase led to death, and many unanswered questions.

"My cousin and them took the dirt bikes, and the guy – they were fleeing on dirt bikes, so they went chasing them. They came past me doing like 100 miles an hour," said Freddie Parker, "until the next thing you know, the dirt bike must have already tried to make a turn and the car hit them, and knocked their shoes off their feet."

Parker's cousin, 20-year-old Anthony Holmes-Garriques,  of North Bellport, was critically injured and died late Thursday night. His friend, 19-year-old Keenan King of Shirley, was pronounced dead at the scene.

King was a student at William Floyd High School.

"They had to be going like 100 miles per hour. They bumped into them and knocked them off of the bike," said witness Michael Smith. "And they was high, because I seen them from the window – they went flying that high."

Shaken families of both young men on the dirt bike were summoned to the scene.

"It's senseless, that's what it is," one woman said.

The driver of the minivan from Mastic Beach, Christopher Bouchard, was arrested. He was later charged with reckless endangerment.

"There is some evidence that indicates the driver of the minivan after the crash attempted to put the dirt bike into the back of the minivan," said Suffolk County police Commissioner Timothy Sini.

The victims were lying in the street as the suspect did so, police alleged.

McLogan asked Smith the motive was retaliation or revenge for the stolen dirt bike

"It was on Facebook. They posted it on Facebook – (they said): 'We know where y'all at, and we're coming to get you all,'" Smith said.

Someone may have posted a photo of the stolen bike and offered a reward to anyone who spotted it. Charges against Bouchard, 27, were pending late Thursday afternoon.

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