Taxi Driver Assaulted In Hampton Bays Road Rage Incident Dies From Injuries

Publication: The Southampton Press

By Colleen Reynolds   Apr 27, 2012 6:00 PM
 Apr 27, 2012 9:10 PM

A Riverhead taxi driver died on Thursday after being severely beaten on Saturday afternoon following what police described as a “road rage” incident.

According to Southampton Town Police, Robert Levasseur, 53, a driver for the Four Ones Taxi Service in Hampton Bays, was involved in a dispute—police declined to say whether it was a physical or verbal altercation—with a female pickup truck driver in the Chase Bank parking lot on Montauk Highway on Saturday afternoon. Hampton Bays resident Kenneth J. Tofty-Forrest, 27, intervened, police said, but would not describe the nature of the relationship between Mr. Tofty-Forrest and the woman, if there was one.

Mr. Tofty-Forrest struck Mr. Levasseur in the face with a closed fist, police said, resulting in head trauma.

Mr. Levasseur was taken first to the Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, and then later airlifted to Stony Brook University Medical Center, where he died at about 6:11 a.m. Thursday morning.

Mr. Tofty-Forrest was arrested and charged with assault in the third degree, a misdemeanor, after the incident on Saturday, but could now face additional charges following the death of Mr. Levasseur, according to police.

He was initially held at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverside in lieu of $5,000 bail following an arraignment in Southampton Town Justice Court on Sunday, police said. He returned before the judge on Tuesday, when he was released on $500 bail, they said.

Police said the Suffolk County district attorney’s office is also involved in the investigation.

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