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Patchogue Store Employees Spared When Allegedly Stolen Car Plows Through Front Window

PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) - A man has been arrested and charged on Long Island after allegedly stealing a car and then crashing into a nearby business.

As WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported, Michael Nash crashed a stolen Honda SUV through the glass windows of Avenue Sound in Patchogue around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday.

Suffolk County police said they were notified that Nash apparently tried to steal another car before he walked past a Jiffy Lube on Medford Avenue and spotted a car with the keys in the ignition.

Patchogue Store Employees Spared When Allegedly Stolen Car Plows Through Front Window

Police gave chase and Nash, 20, apparently lost control of the SUV. The car slammed into the front of Avenue Sound on East Main Street.

Employees and customers inside Avenue Sound ran for cover when the car plowed through the store's windows.

"We heard some noise, some screeching. Then the car came through," said employee Shawn Breen. "I didn't react fast. The other guy that was here did, I kind of followed what he did and ran."

Avenue Sound in Patchogue is boarded up after a man in a stolen car plowed through the front windows
Avenue Sound in Patchogue is boarded up after a man in a stolen car plowed through the front windows, April 9, 2014. (credit: Sophia Hall/WCBS 880)

Breen said glass flew everywhere.

"It was probably one of the craziest things I've ever experienced. It was loud, the airbag gas filled the air," he told Hall. "I had glass in my back pocket at the end of the day."

At least one customer was injured in the ordeal.

Nash got out of the SUV and tried to run but was arrested a short time later.

He's been charged with grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, unlawfully fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle and reckless endangerment.

Nash was due to be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Central Islip.

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