Man drives car through Long Island shopping mall

MASSAPEQUA, N.Y. -- Many teenagers spend their afternoons cruising around shopping malls, but one young man's jaunt through a corridor landed him in hot water with police.

Dwight Thomas, 19, crashed his car through the main glass doors at the Westfield Sunrise mall Thursday evening and cruised the corridor, knocking over a kiosk and sending shoppers scurrying before exiting the building and leaving his car, police said.

A passer-by restrained Thomas until police arrived and took him into custody, officer Thomas Brussell said.

"People were running into stores, you know, and screaming," shopper Theresa Schuessler said.

There were no serious injuries. One person suffered minor cuts to the foot after stepping on broken glass, police said. The crash caused about $60,000 worth of damage, they said.

Brussell said he didn't know why the man drove indoors.

Thomas was arraigned Friday on charges of criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. He already faced arson charges for a separate incident at another Long Island mall, police said. Thomas is accused of setting a fire in a parking lot at the Broadway Mall in nearby Hicksville, they said.