By Joe Anuta
A 41-year-old man was slapped with charges of assault and resisting arrest in connection with a standoff with police on a quiet Bayside street last weekend.
The NYPD descended upon 42nd Avenue Saturday night with guns drawn and what neighbors described as a SWAT team-like vehicle after Tommy Karousos allegedly assaulted two men nearby before retreating to the basement of his parent’s house and refusing to come out, police said.
The man’s mother and a neighbor called the hours-long standoff an absurd overreaction.
“This must be the biggest drama ever in Bayside,” said resident Jasmine Singh, who was told to vacate her house Saturday night by a rifle-wielding NYPD officer.
Two men told cops that around 8:30 p.m. they stopped near a strip of shops along Station Road near the corner of 192nd Street to ask Karousos’ girlfriend, with whom he was arguing, if she was okay, according to a criminal complaint filed by the DA.
A subsequent argument culminated when Karousos took off his shirt and then used his belt to sock one of the men in the face, the complaint said. The men said it appeared Karousos had pointed a gun at them from his car, according to the DA.
By the time cops arrived, the suspect had fled in a red Toyota, but police soon spotted the car and police traced the plate number to the 42nd Avenue home Kakouras shared with his parents nearby.
Eyewitnesses said soon afterward police cars blocked off the street and cops trained their crosshairs on the house. An all-terrain vehicle manned by armed officers in helmets and bullet-proof vests pulled up to the house, and shortly afterward the woman, who was Kakouras’ girlfriend, emerged.
Neighbors said she was taken into custody, but police said Sunday she was not charged with a crime.
Kakouras has a lengthy rap sheet and has served jail time, police sources said. Fellow Baysiders described him as having a short temper and several brushes with the law.
During the standoff, a witness heard the ex-con back-talking the officers from an open window and the front door.
“If I was armed, you would have already shot me,” the neighbor recalled hearing Kakouras yell at one point, and at another time saying: “I know my rights. You need a warrant!”
The man’s father was in the home at the time and came out midway through the face-off.
Kakouras’ mother acknowledged her son had some anger issues, had gotten into a fight up the street that night and had consumed some alcohol, but she was furious at the insinuation he threatened someone with a gun.
“The whole thing was a big show for nothing,” she said, noting he had not been charged with criminal possession of a firearm. “He was scared and in a panic.”
She also disputed published reports that her husband suffered from Alzheimer’s disease.
“He’s 66 and he works,” she said Sunday afternoon. “He’s at work right now!”
Singh, who lives next door, said there was not a nicer couple on the block.
“The way they had it set up you would think he killed someone,” she said.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
