BREEZY POINT — Law enforcement officials looking into last month's fatal car crash in Breezy Point have asked a local co-op board to hold off on conducting its own investigation — as three weeks elapse without any arrests in the case.
Breezy Point Cooperative chairman A.J Smith said the co-op board wants to launch its own investigation into the May 31 crash on Rockaway Point Boulevard that left 26-year-old Thomas Rorke dead and another man injured, but put it on hold at the request of the DA's office.
"We decided we were going to fully cooperate with the DA's office. We understand that this is bigger than the co-op," he said, adding that the board usually investigates smaller matters — like loud house parties or neighbor squabbles — and can issue punishments, usually in the form of fines.
"Us sending somebody a fine for their behavior in the co-op is one thing, people facing criminal investigation — it's bigger than us."
Police said the crash happened after four men jumped into another man's 2008 BMW that was left running in the Breezy Point shopping center's parking lot at 3:50 a.m. and sped away on Rockaway Point Boulevard.
The car slammed into a hydrant moments later, and Rorke and a 23-year-old man whose identity has not been released by authorities were both flung from the car.
Rorke — a reservist with the United States Marine Corps since 2010 — sustained head trauma and died days later, according to the NYPD. The other victim was hospitalized, but his condition is unclear.
The other two men fled the scene, police said.
A call to Rorke's family was not returned.
The moments before the crash were captured on surveillance video by one of the Co-op's cameras overlooking the shopping center parking lot — and a copy of the footage was turned over to police by Co-op security immediately following the crash, Smith said.
Sources said the video clearly shows the identities of the individuals who got into the car, which was left running near the Blarney Pub in the neighborhood's main shopping center.
Smith would not discuss the content of the video, but confirmed that he and several other high-ranking members of the Co-op's security detail and board watched a copy of it within hours of the crash.
When other members of the board contacted him requesting to see the video as well, he called prosecutors to confirm that it would be all right, he said.
"Members of the board — we have obviously an interest in protecting the life and the safety of the shareholders," he said, adding that a criminal investigation is unprecedented in his 12 years as a co-op board member.
A spokesman with the DA's office, Kevin Ryan, confirmed that a board member called the person in charge of the investigation and "requested information and evidence regarding the crash."
"They were told that their request was being denied due to the probe being an active NYPD/Queens D.A. investigation," Ryan said. He would not discuss what evidence the board requested.
The NYPD and the DA said the investigation is still ongoing, and no arrests have been made.
