Crime & Safety Police Investigating Chemical Lab In Long Beach Multiple police, firefighters and hazmat units are on the scene. Replies (8) (Patch) UPDATE, NOON: Police say they responded to a chemical lab that was found on the block. According to police, a call came in around 8 a.m. for an unconscious man on West Beech Street. The police and fire department responded to the scene and took the man to a hospital. While at the scene, police found an active chemical lab in a nearby garage and called in more support. ***DEVELOPING*** Large police presence in #LongBeach. 300 block of west beach street closed. LBPD, LBFD and NC Fire marshal investigating a #HazMat situation. #BreakingNews @News12LI pic.twitter.com/9KFi4fowVh — Andrew Ehinger (@News12Andrew) May 10, 2019 Police say the area is still closed off. The Long Beach Police Department, Long Beach Fire Department, the Nassau County Police Department Emergency Service and the Nassau County Fire Marshals Hazardous Materials Unit are all on the scene. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic is still closed in both directions on West Beech Street between Laurelton and Lafayette boulevards. ORIGINAL STORY: Emergency responders have closed a block in Long Beach due to hazardous materials. The Long Beach Fire Department said the 300 block of West Beech Street is closed until further notice. Multiple police, fire, EMS and hazmat units are on the scene.<doc-sep>LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Firefighters were on the scene Friday of a Hazmat situation in a Long Island beach community. Officials said it was a precaution taken due to an overabundance of concern to keep everyone safe. A Hazmat crew responded to West Beech Street in Long Beach, where there was an active chemical situation in a garage after a male victim was discovered unconscious in his side yard, CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan reported. “Inside a detached garage they saw what appears to be a chemical laboratory. There was an active heat source and there were chemicals that appeared to be cooking inside. The aided was transported to local hospital,” Long Beach Police Det. Lt. Stefan Chernaski said. Officials said there was a fear of explosion. Bomb containment units arrived, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, McLogan reported. Officers responded to the male passed out in an area adjacent to a garage, where a distinct odor was emanating, police said. Long Beach police and fire, and first responders from surrounding communities evacuated several homes as a precaution. The Hazmat decontamination unit then moved in. “It happens all over., It’s not restricted to any one neighborhood. It can happen right next door to me. It can happen right next door to you. It’s a whole society problem,” resident Mike Mitchell said. “What a surprise in this neighborhood because it’s otherwise very calm, very great family neighborhood. So I find it shocking, disturbing. I hope there are no deaths involved,” another resident said. The condition of the male victim was not immediately known. Police said the area was expected to be reopened to residents once the decontamination process was completed. “I heard it’s under control. That’s a good thing. But if I was living next door to it, definitely, I would be scared out of my mind,” resident Mike Polch said.<doc-sep>A clandestine meth lab operated in the garage of a Long Beach home, officials confirmed Tuesday, after first responders found an unconscious and injured man on the lawn last week. The man, Jovin Weinstock, 40, who was taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital for treatment Friday, was arrested and awaiting arraignment on a felony reckless endangerment charge, police said Tuesday in a news release. Long Beach police officers responded to a call Friday morning about the injured man outside a detached garage on Beech Street, and investigators found unknown chemicals being heated in the garage. Residents of nearby streets were ordered to evacuate and were kept out of their homes for more than 12 hours. "It was an extremely dangerous and volatile situation," Long Beach Police Commissioner Michael Tangney said in a statement. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, "Meth is manufactured using readily available ingredients that when mixed together can also be heavily toxic and explosive." The stimulant is highly addictive; the highs fade swiftly, the National Institute on Drug Abuse says, so addicts tend to fall into what it calls a "binge and crash" pattern. Authorities said Weinstock lives at the house. Long Beach police had no further comment Tuesday on his condition, nor offered additional details. Images of the home show a large, well-kept two-story house with flowering gardens. The neighbors who were evacuated included County Comptroller Jack Schnirman’s family — his in-laws, he said, were the ones who called 911. “We appreciate how much all of the first responders showed up immediately and took every precaution to keep our family and everyone safe,” Schnirman said by telephone. Sign up for The Classroom newsletter. The pandemic has changed education on Long Island. Find out how. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. Neighbors described Weinstock as a brilliant individual skilled in science. While the metropolitan region’s battles with opioid and heroin overdoses are well known, methamphetamine use appears to be less common than in other areas, from upstate New York to the Midwest and South. In 2012, a hidden lab was unearthed in Stony Brook, according to DEA records. Six years before that, meth manufacturers were found in Farmingville, Patchogue and Ridge, the records show. “Clandestine labs are rare but very dangerous in New York City and Long Island,” a DEA spokeswoman said by email. “DEA’s priority is public safety, so when we encounter these labs we have our … lab team safely secure and dismantle the clandestine operation.” On Friday, Long Beach police and fire officials, alerted that a man appeared to have passed out in a yard, discovered the hidden lab in the detached garage while they were trying to figure out where he came from and whether anyone else was injured, according to the statement. "The laboratory had an active source heating a liquid and there was what appeared to be a chemical process occurring," it said. "Rescue personnel backed out, evacuated surrounding homes and requested hazardous material response teams," police continued. The Nassau police emergency services unit, police arson and bomb squad, the FBI bomb disposal unit, the county fire marshal's office, the DEA and Long Beach detectives searched and "removed a substance" from the home, it said. A State Police emergency response team confirmed the clandestine lab was making methamphetamine. "A very large quantity of chemicals, laboratory equipment and electronic devices were removed," Long Beach police said. New York's database of professional licenses shows a Jovin Adam Weinstock of Long Beach obtained a clinical laboratory technologist license on May 20, 2014. His neighbor said he was a glassblower; on Linkedin, that is how an individual with the same name lists his profession. Court records show that Weinstock previously pleaded guilty to aggravated driving while intoxicated.<doc-sep>
Hazmat units, the DEA and several agencies swarmed around a suspected drug lab at a Long Beach home Friday after a man was found passed out in the side yard, authorities said. Long Beach police officers responded to an 8 a.m. call about the injured man outside a detached garage on Beech Street, and investigators found an active chemical lab inside, officials said. Residents of nearby streets were ordered to evacuate and were kept out of their homes for more than 12 hours as authorities mounted an investigation and cleanup. "There was an active heat source and there were chemicals that appeared to be cooking inside," said Det. Lt. Stefan Chernaski of Long Beach police. The officers who arrived saw a beaker containing liquids, which appeared to be bubbling, according to a spokesman for Long Beach police. A hazmat unit from the Nassau County fire marshal's office and Nassau County emergency service officers went inside and found many chemicals in the suspected drug lab, said Michael Uttaro, assistant chief fire marshal. The DEA agents and a team from New York State police separated the chemicals and cleaned up the site, Uttaro said. FBI agents also joined the investigation, he said. Get the Nassau news this week newsletter! The biggest news, politics and crime stories in Nassau County, in your inbox every Friday at noon. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. The man had a serious injury and was taken to South Nassau Communities Hospital, authorities said. His name and extent of injuries were not available Friday night. Police, firefighters and hazmat personnel were working to determine what type of chemicals were in the garage, authorities said. A section of Beech Street remained closed to cars and pedestrians Friday night. Scott Kemins, Long Beach commissioner for the fire and building departments, was at the scene Friday night but declined to comment. With Ellen Yan