Man charged with tackling boy, breaking his phone in Dix Hills

A Dix Hills 12-year-old says a grown man shoved him to the pavement and broke his cellphone because he was taking video of the latter's wife, who he thought was following him.
The boy, Alex Anderson, says he had taken out his phone to record video of a woman who was following him and taking video of his friends while they rode bikes near Old Brook Road.
Alex says he recorded the woman's license place and then her face.
"I'm like, 'Why are you recording us? What's your problem?'" he says.
That's when the woman's 39-year-old husband, William Conte, allegedly jumped on him, snatched the phone and threw it. When the phone hit the ground, it shattered into pieces. Alex says he has cuts on his elbow and knees and twisted his ankle.
Police arrested Conte and charged him with harassment and criminal mischief.
After seeing the video, Alex's father Christian Anderson says he was furious.
"Come mess with somebody your own size," he says. "Don't pick on a 12-year-old."
The father says he had previously told his son to record video of anyone he believed was following him.
"If anybody is ever following you, videoing you, taking pictures of you, you do the same thing back," he says. "Because I don't know if my son is going to get kidnapped."
No one at Conte's home answered the door for News 12.