Results tagged “westchester”

What can't Yankees manager Joe Girardi do? First, there's manage the Yankees to their 27th World Series win (okay, fine, there was that $206 million payroll helping out). But after the win, when driving home on the Cross County Parkway, he stopped to help a driver who crashed into a wall!

The Westchester Medical Examiner's office has taken the preemptive measure of saying that the second round of test results on the body of Taconic crash driver Diane Schuler may vary from the original toxicology and autopsy findings. The original results revealed Schuler to have a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit as well as traces of marijuana in her system while driving in the crash that killed eight. A spokesman for the county's chief medical examiner said, "Due to the time period that has passed, the amount of alcohol that will show up in the samples when they are retested will be reduced and the marijuana can disappear." But Newsday talks to forensics experts who seem unclear on why such a statement was made, the toxicologists they speak to saying there's no reason the result would change much—if anything it could go up over time. The question now is whether such a defensive stance from the ME's office will only fuel the suggestions of a plot that have been hinted at by Daniel Schuler's lawyer, Dominic Barbara (pictured). But the examiner says they are simply encouraging the Schuler family quickly select a lab for the additional autopsy tests the Schulers have requested.

Daniel Schuler spoke to state police yesterday for the first time since toxicology reports revealed that his wife Diane was drunk and high when she drove the wrong way in the Taconic crash that killed eight. Mr. Schuler, lawyer Dominic Barbara and a private investigator met with authorities in Westchester County still trying to nail down a timeline of Mrs. Schuler's drive. Police showed them a video of Mrs. Schuler at a Sunoco station, appearing coherent and looking for painkillers a little over an hour before she would call her brother, Warren Hance, sounding disoriented. A friend of Hance's told the Times, “His first impression was..it might be some diabetic condition...or she was having a stroke. There was no ‘Oh my God, could she be drunk?’ ” An official at the meeting with Mr. Schuler said, "No new areas were covered." The family's PI said, “The Diane that they know does not drink and would never smoke marijuana in a car with kids.” In a recent interview, Daniel Schuler's brother said that the family was aware that Mrs. Schuler used marijuana to sometimes help her sleep.

Exactly two weeks after Diane Schuler's fateful wrong way drive and crash on the Taconic left eight people dead, a woman was pulled over after driving across the Tappan Zee Bridge in the wrong direction. The 75-year-old woman from Irvington made it two miles across the bridge to the Rockland County side before being stopped by state troopers. She told that them that she was aware that she had been driving the wrong way, but kept going because she thought there would be a place to make a U-turn. The woman had even gone through the tolls in the wrong direction—the TZ toll lanes have no arm to block her. She ended up driving in the wrong direction from the Westchester side after she accidentally entered the off-ramp from the highway, missing her exit to get on the Major Deegan Expressway. Police ticketed her for improperly entering a highway, driving in the wrong direction and reckless driving. The incident took place ominously close to where Schuler's deadly drive went haywire, accidentally getting on the Saw Mill Parkway in Tarrytown before heading back toward the Taconic.

A wake was held on Long Island today for five victims of Sunday's deadly crash on the Taconic Parkway. Diana Schuler was driving the wrong way before crashing into an SUV; Schuler, her daughter and three nieces died while three people inside the SUV were also killed. Autopsy results yesterday ruled out any signs of alcohol, drugs or a medical condition such as a stroke or an aneurysm, or even just sleepiness for 36-year-old Schuler. But today police say that during the phone call to her brother 30 minutes before the crash—when Schuler said she wasn't feeling well—she revealed that she was disoriented and was having trouble seeing. Schuler's family, who held a wake for their loved ones, issued a statement, "We extend our condolences to the Bastardi and Longo families [of the SUV victims] and regret the grief this tragic accident has caused." They also said that 5-year-old Bryan Schuler, the only survivor of the crash, is expected to make a full recovery. Police now await the results of further blood and toxicology tests, available in 4-6 weeks, saying, "We made sure that they’re going to test for everything because we don’t have an answer.”

The woman who drove a minivan full of her children and nieces the wrong way on the Taconic yesterday was feeling ill, but there is no indication of drugs or alcohol being involved in Westchester's worst accident in 75 years. Diane Schuler of West Babylon was on her way home from a weekend camping trip upstate when she called her brother on Long Island to say that she felt sick—apparently so ill that he offered to come get her if she would pull over. However, she didn't know where she was exactly and two hours later, she veered onto the other side of the highway. Schuler, 36, apparently had been on the wrong side for 2 miles before crashing head first into an SUV, killing all three Yonkers men inside it—father and son Michael and Guy Bastardi and their friend Daniel Longo. Schuler, her two-year-old daughter Erin and her three young nieces—Emma, Alison and Kate Hance— all died in the crash. The only survivor was Schuler's five-year-old son Brian, who is amazingly in stable condition. A secondary collision with a Chevy Tracker left a Freehold couple with minor cuts that they were treated for. Police now await autopsy and toxicology results to learn more details of Schuler's condition.

Last night, heavy storms and hail hit Westchester County, downing trees and utility poles and causing power outages to 17,000 customers. The downed power lines also prompted car fires. A Yonkers Fire Department official told 1010WINS, "Possibly a tornado came through the city...the northwest section...it was just devastating...trees and wires down...the amount of hail was unbelievable." (Reports of a tornado are still being confirmed.) WCBS 2 reports, "The dime-sized hail covered the roads in many areas across the city, posing as snow in July... The bizzare weather scene will most certainly cause problems for Wednesday's commute." According to Con Ed, Yonkers and Mount Vernon suffered the most outages while Bronxville, New Rochelle and Eastchester were also affected. Service may not be restored until later this afternoon. According to USA Today, "Hail forms when strong currents of rising air, known as updrafts, carry water droplets high enough in a thunderstorm for the water droplets to freeze... While hailstones are ice, hail is mostly a spring and summer phenomena because the strong thunderstorms needed to produce hail are much more common during warm weather."

Just after State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. made jaws drop in Albany and around the state by teaming with fellow Democrat Hiram Monserrate and handing control of the Senate over to Republicans, his Mamaroneck home was broken into and had files and office papers stolen from within it. Espada told the Post, "This was a burglary. I have to tie it in to demonstrations outside my home. Things are on the precipice of violence... People will get hurt." Good thing burglars knew to hit his Westchester home and not the Bronx residence in the neighborhood Espada represents, where neighbors never seem to see him. NY1 went to the Bronx district and said they found his constitutents unhappy with the senator's power play. One voter told them, "It's kind of ridiculous, but seriously, because to be honest with you, I cannot understand exactly being in a one party body for one reason for a long time, and then switch it suddenly just like with out another reasons. How can you explain that to the people?"

A Westchester County middle school social studies teacher and former lacrosse coach has a $500 a week crack addiction and a penchant for underage girls, prosecutors say. Gregg Cavaluzzi, who has taught at six schools (some in NYC) over the last decade but was recently dismissed from Pelham Middle School, was caught in a sting by cops posing as 15-year-old girls in online chat rooms. Thinking an undercover cop was a teen, he allegedly texted, "At a motel in Bronx partying you smoke? Can you get down here" and asked what's "one thing you like to do very dirty." Cavaluzzi was busted when he showed up in Elmsford, NY, for the rendezvous and was charged with enticing a minor for sex, which could get him up to life in prison if convicted. A previous student of Cavaluzzi tells CBS2, "[The girls] used to talk about how he was such a pervert and they all found it very disgusting. He might look at different body parts thinking the girls wouldn't notice but everybody noticed." Cavaluzzi denies the charges; his lawyer says his client suffers from depression and cocaine addiction.

A Rye Brook couple were apparently so financially strapped that they advertised the 23-year-old wife as a hooker on craigslist, according to police. Neighbors had complained about people coming and going to Richard Salvatore, 45,and Rachel Grome's townhouse that police started a investigation. Apparently a cop found a craigslist ad which "featured several sexy photos of Grome. The ad claimed she was a college student trying to make some extra cash." A neighbor said to WABC 7, "This used to be a quite area, a quiet street. It's kind of sad it's coming down to that. I'm just hoping that it gets better." The couple, who have two children, were charged with prostitution, though they told WCBS 2 they were "arrested by mistake." At any rate, Rye Brook Police Chief Gregory Austin told WCBS 2, "I feel like craigslist has really brought 42nd Street and Times Square right into people's home."

Sure, a Queens man was fined for feeding pigeons in his backyard*, but Westchester County officials can't touch a resident who welcomes many, many geese to his yard. The Post took this video of the scene at Westchester County resident Gary Lundqvist's house, which apparently gets many Canadian fowl during its migration.

A White Plains man used a remote access program on his laptop to monitor the suspect who stole it, resulting in his arrest last week. The laptop was stolen on September 4th after Jose Caceres left it on top of his car while he carried stuff into his home. Using the remote tracking, Caceres was able to monitor the suspect's internet use, which he says primarily consisted of studying the remarkable migratory patterns of the Black-tailed Godwit. Kidding—it was porn, all porn. When the suspect, 34-year-old Gabriel Mejia of White Plains, typed in his home address to replenish his porn supply, Caceres tipped off police, who arrested Mejia just hours later. The sting is reminiscent of last May's bust of two thieves in Westchester, which took place after the owner remotely used the camera in her computer to photograph the suspects.

A Westchester woman who had her laptop stolen didn’t even bother with old fashioned signs like the one pictured here – instead she remotely used the camera in her computer to photograph the culprits. The laptop was stolen from her apartment on April 27th along with $5,000 worth of other electronics.

The acting chief of medicine at Metropolitan Hospital was killed yesterday when strong winds uprooted a tree that crushed his car. Dr. John Corser was instantly killed, but somehow, his two children, ages 4 and 8, in the backseat were spared.

The killing of Mt. Vernon police officer Christopher Ridley, gunned down outside of a White Plains courthouse, resulted in no indictments this week. The four men who killed him were Westchester County police officers, and the grand jury did not believe there was reason to proceed to a criminal trial.

A New York State Assemblyman ticked off about congestion pricing for suburban drivers is retaliating by proposing a $4-per-ride surcharge for taxi riders, rather than the congestion fee of $8 for motorists entering Manhattan below 60th St. That taxis are another form of mass transit that allow New Yorkers to get around without owning a car escapes Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, whose district includes parts of Westchester County.

A 7-year-old New York City boy has joined a growing number of children who’ve had the horrifying experience of getting their feet mangled by escalators while wearing popular plastic clogs made by Crocs. The boy’s mother says the accident happened in a Kentucky airport:

”All of a sudden I hear this excruciating screaming from Nicky and I turn around and his little foot is being sucked into the side of the escalator. It's just like chewing up his foot.”

Continue reading "More Crocs Escalator Nightmares!"

On Friday night, the Westchester police shot at a Mount Vernon police officer brandishing a gun in front of a county social services building. The policeman killed was Christopher Ridley, who was off-duty at the time; now it turns out he had been trying to break up a brawl.

The great-grandson of one of an early owner of Macy's is being accused by a 52-year-old jewelry designer of imprisoning the woman and torturing her with, of all things, a lobster trap. Bette Marchek claims that William Straus kept her captive on his Westchester estate, starved her, beat her, and eventually attacked her with a lobster trap while the pair were on City Island in the Bronx. That was the figurative straw that broke the...