SOUTH SALEM, N.Y. - Lewisboro Police handled a variety of traffic mishaps, assistance to first responders, and other routine operations during the first part of June – but a handful of incidents stood out as unusual.
On June 2, police responded to a complaint about two young men operating dirt bikes on a public roadway in South Salem. The complainant said the two men constantly rode their motorbikes recklessly in the neighborhood and on his own dirt driveway. After the complainant identified the offenders, who were high school students. Police advised them that it is illegal to operate an unregistered motorcycle or all-terrain vehicle (ATV) on a public roadway. The officer also told them that the vehicles would be impounded if they persisted.
The officer later conducted follow-up interviews with the parents of the two young men, who agreed to instruct their sons not to drive the ATVs on roadways. All parties were warned that if the behavior continued, the dirt bikes would be impounded.
Another unusual incident took place on June 3. The woman who placed the call said her son was inside Green Way Market in Cross River waiting to be picked up – but instead got locked inside the store. The young man was distracted by his phone and did not notice the store being closed – nor did anyone from the store notice him as no employees were left inside the building. He used an emergency exit to leave the store. The officers who responded checked the store’s interior and found it to be secure.
On June 11, a South Salem resident was working in her garden when she noticed a drone flying over her house. She went to the driveway to see who might be operating the drone, where she observed a white truck with an amber light on top parked in front of her house. She also saw the drone lower to the area of the street where the truck was parked, and the truck later left. The resident said she has a POD storage container on her property, but is not in the process of moving. She also said she and her family would be away the following week and feared the drone was casing her house. The officer advised her that he would increase patrols in the area.
On June 13, police worked to put an end to an ongoing case of menacing between several high school students. One of the students came with his father to Police Headquarters to report the problem. The boy told police that two months ago, a friend had taken his AirPods and broken them. The boy then responded by threatening the other boy’s family. The incident was reported to the principal of John Jay High School, who suspended the first boy from school. The two boys have avoided contact since then.
The first boy later met the second boy’s brother at Dunkin Donuts, who took him outside the store. The brother asked him to apologize via phone to his family for threatening them, which he did. The brother then said he had a baseball bat in his car and would “f--- you up.” The first boy’s father arrived on scene to pick up his son, whereupon the other boy’s brother repeated his threat.
The father drove his son to school to file a complaint with the principal, who referred them to Lewisboro Police. The father said he does not want the situation to go any further. Accordingly, the officer met with the brother at police headquarters, instructing him to avoid any future contact with the first boy. The officer also arranged to meet with the two boys’ mother at a future time.
In addition to responding to more than a dozen instances of assistance to local emergency-medical services, Lewisboro Police responded to some noteworthy traffic incidents:
On June 4, an accident involving property damage took place on Spring Street South in South Salem, when a hanging tree branch punched a hole in the windshield of a school bus. The bus driver suspected she might have something in her eye from the collision and was transported to an urgent-care facility for treatment. A local landscaper removed the hanging branch to avoid any further risk. The responding officer met with the head of the Katonah-Lewisboro School District, who said she did not require an accident report.
The next day, a driver traveling north on Route 123 skidded off the road when his brakes failed. This caused him to knock over a NYSEG utility pole and disconnected the pole’s stability cable. The driver proceeded to cross over both lanes to the other side of Route 123.
On Monday, July 9, an accident involving a personal injury took place on Route 121 in Cross River. A vehicle traveling north on Route 121 hit a second vehicle – which had pulled out of the Shell station parking lot at the corner of Routes 135 and 121 without yielding right of way. This caused the first vehicle to collide with the front left side of the second.
Another accident involving property damage took place at a Cross River gas station on June 10. A vehicle pulling up to the pumps nicked the front right side of a second vehicle that was already parked there. The responding officer found slight damage to the second vehicle and no damage to the first.
Route 121 near the Orchard Square shopping center was the scene of an accident on June 11. The first driver reported to police that he was traveling south on Route 121 when a second vehicle struck his car. The second car’s driver said she was leaving the Orchard Square parking lot, and that she thought the first vehicle was pulling in. She struck the first vehicle after attempting to make a left turn. All parties involved refused medical aid.
A three-car accident took place on Route 35 in Cross River when a car stopped suddenly for a second car turning left into Cameron’s Deli. The second vehicle was able to stop in time, but a third vehicle collided with it. That pushed the second vehicle into the first, resulting in all three vehicles sustaining damage. The second vehicle wasn’t operable because its rear fender was pushed into one of its tires, and would require repair on the following day. Its owners were en route from Florida to Massachusetts and booked a hotel in Mount Kisco for the night. Police issued all three motorists a crash docs card.
On June 12, an accident took place at the intersection of Route 138 and Fairmont Road. The first driver attempted to turn right onto 138 from Fairmont. The second driver, turning left, entered the first vehicle’s traffic lane causing the impact. Both vehicles were driven from the scene.
Another accident involving a school bus took place on June 12 on North Salem Road in Katonah. Upon the officer’s arrival, the school bus was parked in a residential driveway. The driver pointed out that a child had neglected to get off at his designated stop, so he was turning the bus around to bring the child back. The driver attempted to back into a driveway but struck a rock wall pillar by the driveway. The bus was slightly damaged, and the rock wall pillar had some paint on it. The Katonah-Lewisboro transportation supervisor said no students were injured, which the officer confirmed by boarding the bus. Because the accident took place within the jurisdiction of the Bedford Police Department, that department was notified. The officer also spoke with the homeowner upon his return home.
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