Brightwaters Man, 22, Accused of Taking an Ax to Three Parked Cars

A 22-year-old Brightwaters man is facing criminal mischief charges after police say he used an ax to strike and damage three parked cars at different spots along Pine Drive. Officers responded to a 911 call reporting the attack around 1:30 p.m. and arrested the man, identified as Georgios Stavroulakis, a Pine Drive resident, at the scene.

The 911 call reported a man striking vehicles with an ax on Pine Drive, according to News12 Long Island. Responding officers found and arrested Stavroulakis, and police reported damage to three vehicles at different locations on the street. He has been charged with criminal mischief and is set to be arraigned at a later date, the outlet reports.

A Quiet Corner of the South Shore

Pine Drive sits near Brightwaters' historic Lakes District, close to the village's border with Bay Shore, and is lined mostly with mid-century and historic single-family homes, according to a Zillow listing description of the area. Brightwaters itself is a small, affluent village of about 3,181 residents with a median property value of $768,600 as of 2024, per Data USA. The village, less than a square mile in size, was incorporated in 1916 after residents voted to break away from the unincorporated Town of Islip to form their own local government, according to Wikipedia.

Patrol duties for the village fall to the Suffolk County Police Department's Third Precinct, headquartered at 1630 5th Avenue in nearby Bay Shore, per Wikipedia. Any injuries from an incident like this would typically fall to the volunteer Bay Shore Brightwaters Rescue Ambulance, which handles roughly 4,000 emergency calls a year across a 25-square-mile coverage area, according to the agency.

What Comes Next in Court

The dollar value of the damage to the three vehicles has not been disclosed, and that figure could determine how serious the charges ultimately become. Under New York Penal Law, intentional property damage under $250 is treated as Fourth-Degree Criminal Mischief, a Class A misdemeanor carrying up to 364 days in jail and fines up to $1,000, according to the New York State Senate.

Once damage exceeds $250, the charge rises to Third-Degree Criminal Mischief, a Class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison, according to Saland Law. If prosecutors add up damage across all three vehicles and the total tops $1,500, the charge could climb further to Second-Degree Criminal Mischief, a Class D felony carrying up to seven years in state prison, the firm notes. It remains unclear whether formal repair estimates have been obtained for any of the three cars.

Stavroulakis is expected to be arraigned at a later date rather than held immediately, a pattern consistent with post-2020 bail reform guidelines that allow officers to issue Desk Appearance Tickets for non-violent Class A misdemeanors and select Class E felonies, according to the Data Collaborative for Justice. It is not known whether the three vehicles belonged to neighbors or to unrelated motorists parked on the street, nor has any motive or underlying dispute been disclosed.

The incident stands out against a broader backdrop of falling crime in the surrounding area. Crime prevention reports presented by Suffolk County Police leadership in March 2025 pointed to an overarching downward trend across the Third Precinct's jurisdiction, aided by targeted Community Oriented Police Enforcement operations, according to the Suffolk County Police Crime Prevention Association.