Police

Police: Riverhead man was denied cigars, damaged clerk’s car

Riverleigh Avenue intersects with the Riverside traffic circle on Flanders Road. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)
The Valero is located at the northern portion of the traffic circle. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)

A man who was denied cigars because he didn’t have proof of his age was arrested after he then went outside and kicked the careful clerk’s car in retaliation, damaging the car, Southampton Town police said.

Taiheen McKay, 19, of Hamilton Avenue in Riverhead got into a verbal dispute with a clerk at the Valero gas station at the Route 24 traffic circle about 1:30 a.m. Sunday over the cigars, police said.

In response, Mr. McKay allegedly kicked the man’s vehicle three times, causing extensive age to the driver’s side door.

Mr. McKay was arrested on Peconic Avenue in Riverside and charged with second-degree criminal mischief, police said.

That’s a “D” felony punishable by up to seven years in state prison, according to state penal law.