A 16-year-old Levittown boy, his mother and an adult family friend were arrested following an assault on an 18-year-old Levittown male at Azalea Road Park.

According to Detective Sergeant Kevin McPadden of the 8th Precinct, Joseph Galletti had been involved in a prior altercation with the 18-year-old victim, whom he knew from Division Avenue High School. The police report released by the 8th precinct states, "His mother and the friend encouraged him to retaliate and they drove him to Azalea Road Park in Levittown, where the male was known to frequent. While the adults looked on, Galletti used a razor blade and slashed the victim's neck and back." The victim was taken to Nassau County Medical Center in critical condition.

The police later stopped the van used by the mother, Peggy Laureano and her friend Carlos Cabral, also occupied by the mother's two other children, ages 9 and 4. Galletti was charged with Assault in the 1st Degree and Laureano and Cabral were each charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a minor and one count of criminal facilitation.

Following the assault, reports came out that the altercation was gang related. In response to this McPadden stated, "It hasn't been verified, it's all under investigation. There's some report from people in the neighborhood that these subjects are loosely associated with neighborhood groups, but we have no information that there's any affiliation with any national or recognized gangs." According to McPadden, the 8th precinct, as a matter of course is keeping an eye out in the area for any gang activity. He noted that the appearance of graffiti and other such signs are indications that there has been an attempt to organize in the local community. "There's no ongoing gang problem that we've discovered and we are taking, of course, all necessary steps to thwart any gang activity that we may suspect," added McPadden.

Following the arrest and release of Laureano the younger children were returned to her. "It's not uncommon for a parent to get arrested and then processed and then have their children released back to them when they get an appearance ticket, that's standard operating procedure," said McPadden. "We have no information to believe that the younger children are in any other danger other than the incident that occurred, the fact that they were allowed to be present, that was the basis for the endangering the welfare of minor [charge]."

McPadden noted that without the parent's involvement this would have been an ordinary assault, but because of the mother's role the media jumped on the story and people around the neighborhood and people in the park put their own spin on the incident.