A crew of immigrants from El Salvador were caught driving with Molotov cocktails after an early-morning traffic stop on Long Island this week — only to be released without bail.
Suffolk County police pulled over a 2008 Honda Accord that was allegedly driving erratically shortly before 2:30 a.m. Tuesday on Lexington Avenue in Central Islip, the department said in a press release.
Cops said they then spotted two of the homemade flammable devices — beer bottles packed with gasoline — inside the vehicle.
Three Salvadoran nationals were arrested and charged with possession nof two Molotov cocktails. Dennis A. Clark for NY PostThree Salvadoran nationals — Lorenzo Alvarado-Navarrete, 18, Elvis Romero-Martinez, 20, and Albert Yanes-Moran, 20 — were charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Romero-Martinez, who was behind the wheel, was also hit with “multiple traffic summonses.”
The three were arraigned on Wednesday — but prosecutors had to let them all walk without bail because of the state’s lenient criminal justice laws, which prohibit bail for some crimes.
“The thing that supposedly never happens in New York just happened again — we cannot seek bail on a case that clearly cries out for bail because of our unworkable bail laws,” Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney railed in a statement.
Police said the Molotov cocktail arrest did not appear to be tied to a planned act of terrorism Dennis A. Clark for NY Post“Although Bail Reform and the Protect Our Courts Act once again have protected criminals, including alleged criminals seeking to use dangerous Molotov cocktails to commit a firebombing, no one in Albany thought to actually protect the public,” Tierney added.
Cops said the incident “was determined to be non-terrorism related,” while prosecutors revealed that the three were planning to torch the car of someone they had a beef with.
“Thanks to the great work of the Suffolk County police officers, these Molotov cocktails were discovered and neutralized before anyone could be hurt,” Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney said in a statement.
“This alleged conduct will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and my office will be working with our law enforcement partners to make sure that individuals who seek to endanger our citizens are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Tierney said.
A Molotov cocktail is an improvised device typically consisting of a bottle with flammable liquid with a make-shift fuse that is used as a weapon during civil and political unrest.
In January, an illegal Mexican immigrant was sentenced to four years behind bars for hurling a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during violent anti-ice protests in 2025.
