SOUTH SALEM, N.Y. - Stalking and road rage are phenomena usually associated with sprawling sunbelt cities – but Lewisboro Police responded to a bizarre such incident on Feb. 5.
When a patron left the post office at the Orchard Square Shopping Center in Cross River, he noticed a van touching his vehicle’s front tire. He asked the other driver to move so he could pull out. The other driver then denied that her van was touching his vehicle but moved it after his second request. The van’s driver then accused the complainant of “wanting to hit her” – which he denied.
The complainant left the shopping center and drove 20 miles to the Shop Rite store in Brookfield, Conn. The van driver followed him, beeping and flashing her lights along the way. When they both arrived, the van driver told the complainant that he had accused her of hitting him and that he would see her again.
Lewisboro Police were able to locate the van owner’s phone number and address through her license plate. She was told to avoid further contact with the complainant and to refrain from following people.
The department saw an uptick in road incidents, some owing to snowy conditions.
An accident took place on Jan. 27 on Route 123 in South Salem, when a deer ran into the roadway in the vicinity of Elmwood Road. No injuries were and the vehicle did not need to be towed.
On Jan. 28, while patrolling southbound on Route 123 near East St., an officer spotted a red pickup truck with no license plates and a loud muffler. When he stopped the vehicle, he noticed a temporary New Jersey tag adhered to the truck’s rear window – and when he asked the driver to produce his license, he learned it had been suspended. A check with eJustice revealed the driver to have 25 suspensions in total. The driver received two tickets for operating without a license, a third for an inadequate muffler, and a court-appearance ticket. East Towing impounded the vehicle.
On Jan. 29, an officer conducting radar surveillance on Route 22 in Goldens Bridge nabbed a vehicle traveling at 64 m.p.h. in a 45-m.p.h. zone. After stopping the vehicle, the officer learned that the driver didn’t have his license with him, and an eJustice check revealed no license on file under his name. East Towing impounded the vehicle, which was owned by the driver’s sister. The driver received a ticket for speeding and a second for unlicensed operation.
On Jan. 29 a vehicle had stopped on Route 35 at Boutonville Road in South Salem when it was rear-ended by a vehicle turning right. The driver of the second car said something went wrong with her brakes.
On Feb. 2, a driver traveling east on Route 35 in Cross River in snow lost control of his. He crashed head-on into a second vehicle traveling west. The first driver was taken to the hospital for an examination.
Later the same day, an officer spotted a car in a ditch along Route 121. The driver reported that he lost control of his car in the snow but was uninjured. Numerous bystanders helped him get his car out of the ditch. The vehicle was operational, had minor damage to the front bumper, and the driver requested no accident report.
On Feb. 6, a car struck a guardrail on Route 35 in Cross River, rolled over, then damaged a residential garage. The vehicle, which was towed by Sal’s, was unregistered, uninsured, and the driver had no license.
A Feb. 6 accident on North Street in Goldens Bridge resulted in conflicting reports from the two drivers involved. The first vehicle had a sander attached to it when, its driver reported, it attempted to turn left onto Route 138 and was struck from behind by the second vehicle. The collision damaged the sander. The driver of the second vehicle said the first vehicle was going in reverse and collided with the front of her car.
On Feb. 7, a driver traveling east on Route 35 in South Salem was struck by a vehicle making a left turn onto 35 from a retailer there.
The wintry weather resulted in several incidents of downed wires and tree branches in Lewisboro. On Jan. 29, a police officer was dispatched to a report of a tree branch on the wires near the intersection of Routes 138 and 121 in Katonah. New York State Electric and Gas was alerted but could not provide police with an estimated time of arrival. Police placed yellow caution tape on the tree branches.
Police responded later that day to a report of low-hanging branches on Route 138 near Pond Street. The branches could not be removed. A traffic cone and caution tape were set up to alert drivers.
Nosy neighbors don’t usually show up on the police blotter – but one such snoop received a stern warning from Lewisboro Police. While she wasn’t home, a South Salem resident monitoring her Ring camera spotted her across-the-street neighbor walking up her driveway and peering into her windows. A Lewisboro officer visited the neighbor’s home twice and found no one home. On the third visit, the neighbor was explicitly warned to stay off her neighbor’s property.
Finally, the Lewisboro Police perform a host of actions in the normal course of a day that fall under the simple heading of “serving the public” – but one incident stands out. A New Hampshire couple en route to Pennsylvania on Feb. 8 stopped at the Goldens Bridge Shopping Center, then inadvertently left their iPad on the trunk of their car.
When they arrived in Pennsylvania, their tracking app showed the iPad resting on Route 22 near North Street. Lewisboro Police retrieved the iPad, which was still in good condition. The couple retrieved it on their return trip to New Hampshire.
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