The driver of the taxi that was hit by a CSX train in Saugerties on Feb. 16, killing a passenger, was arrested today and charged with the felony of failure to stop at a railroad crossing resulting in a fatal accident and the violation of failure to stop at a stop sign.
The victim and several witnesses were walking in the Southside Apartment parking lot when a vehicle approached quickly from the rear of the complex. The victim was struck by the front driver side area of the offending vehicle and knocked to the ground.
Customers receiving personal visits, calls or emails are warned not to provide or verify their utility account or other personal information such as credit card, social security or bank routing numbers.
At her arraignment, Phoenicia resident Solane Verraine pled not guilty to second-degree manslaughter in the death of her husband, John Owings, Jr., a guitarist known as Johnny Asia. But apparently Verraine had told police she helped Asia die. And now her fate hinges on complex considerations of law, suffering, and mercy.
The students, who were from a New Jersey high school, rented a house on Manorville Rd. in Saugerties.
Police will be looking for drivers’ texting, talking on their cell phones, passing a stopped school bus, and other instances of distracted driving and issuing tickets.
Verraine was originally charged with murder, but District Attorney Holley Carnright said the investigation of the case led his department to switch to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Police say they’ll enforce a little-known curfew law to combat the problem.
While marijuana remains illegal in New York, statistics show that 1960s-era horror stories of pot smokers languishing for years behind bars for possession of a few joints is largely a thing of the past.
Legislation approved this week as part of the state budget process will raise the age of criminal responsibility in New York from 16 to 18 — and bring major changes in the local criminal justice system.