Police Update Tuesday March15

Lieutenant Andrew Matturo gave Scarsdale10583.com an update on the restoration and a report on the activities of police, firemen and village personnel during the weekend storm. He said that in his 26 years working for the police “this was the worst storm he had ever seen.” Police received just under 1,000 phone calls due to storm-related incidents, with 170 reports of downed trees and 19 homes hit. Two shifts of policemen worked through the night on Saturday as well as 20-30 employees of the Department of Public Works, firefighters and the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps. Two homes went up in flames simultaneously on Saturday night. The Mayor, Village Manager, Head of the Department of Public Works and others came to Village Hall to manage the response. Both paid and volunteer personnel deserve our thanks for the extraordinary job they did to assist Village residents in need.

Though progress in restoring power may seem slow, Maturro reports that Con Edison is moving forward and has brought in crews from as far away as North Carolina. You may notice trucks from “Pike Electric, N.C.” on the streets and they are here to help. Though most of our main thoroughfares are open, there is still considerable debris on the side streets. Matturo hopes that power will be restored to all residents by Friday and thanks you for their patience.

The bottom line is that no one in Scarsdale was badly injured or killed. Some were trapped by fallen trees and wires in cars and in homes , but everyone escaped injury. Given the strength of the winds and the scope of the storm this is nothing short of miraculous. Regrettably, one man who was visiting Hartsdale died when a tree hit his car on Saturday night.

Scarsdale Schools will be closed on Wednesday as buses cannot pass through our side streets. In addition, power must be restored to Greenacres, Fox Meadow and Quaker Ridge elementary schools. Broken traffic lights on Post Road are also a hazard and hopefully they can be fixed by Thursday. The district has used up their last “snow day.”

Today, with the sun out and temperatures in the sixties, it appeared that the worst was over. Clean-up crews were busy all over town and it looks like Scarsdale is returning to normal. Hang in and continue to send your comments and questions.

In other police news, thieves continued to plague Scarsdale this past week, with a home burglary in Greenacres and five car break-ins, all in Quaker Ridge.

The home burglary was on Oakstwain Road where someone entered the home around 5 pm on Saturday night by kicking in the front door. Taken were a 26” flat screen television, silverware, jewelry and currency. Also missing was a pillowcase -- reminiscent of the robberies last week where thieves took pillowcases, possibly to hold stolen goods.

The five car break-ins all took place during the night of March 11-12. On Vernon Road the driver’s side window of a 2010 Volkswagen was broken and a baritone saxophone and an iPod were stolen from the car. On Sycamore Road a 2008 BMW and an Alpersons truck were parked in the driveway. Vandals entered both and stole Nintendo games, clothing, silverware and fencing gear. The front passenger window of a 2008 Ford was broken on Black Birch lane and an iPod was stolen. Damage was done to the audio system as well. Also on Black Birch Lane the front passenger window of a 2006 Toyota was shattered and the car was searched. Nothing appears to have been taken. A 2005 Acura was also vandalized that night; the driver’s side window was smashed and missing were a GPS system and a Bluetooth headset.

At the parking garage at 2 Underhill Road, the cashier’s booth was entered during the night of 3/12. Someone pushed in the window air conditioning unit and stole $680 in cash and an iPod.

Two employees of the Scarsdale Medical Group on Popham Road reported thefts that had occurred in the past. Shamina Dickson said that two diamond rings and a gold anniversary band were taken from her work station on 2/13 while Eva Hernandez reported that $150 in cash had been taken from her pocketbook on 3/8.

Lucky Man: Balducci’s cashier Daisy Arauz found a wad of cash wrapped in a rubber band on the floor near her register on March 8th. Store manager Angel Caban called the police who unwrapped the roll and determined there was $1,980 in cash. They took the money to the police station for safekeeping. Mark J Stuart of Larchmont realized he had dropped his funds and called Balduccis to see if the cash was found. The store manager let him know that the money had been turned over to the police. Police reviewed the Balduccis surveillance video and interviewed Mr. Stuart. They determined that Mr. Stuart was the rightful owner of the money and returned it to him.

Lucky Lady: Leanne Moore of East End Avenue NYC called police to say that someone had removed two bags of clothing from her car. She had been shopping at LF in Scarsdale Village and placed her purchases in her car. She returned to the store and found her two bags of clothing in the store. A man had come in to the store with the bags and said that someone had placed them in his car. It appears that Ms. Moore put her bags in someone else’s car and lucky for her, he returned them.

A Connecticut woman in distress stopped at Scarsdale police headquarters at 5 am on the morning of 3/11. She said she had a migraine, was distressed over a strained family relationship and wanted to stop in and talk. She declined assistance and said she would go to White Plains Hospital and left the police trailer.

In the midst of the storm at 11 pm on Saturday night police were called by a Barry Road resident to say that kids were throwing cans in the street. When police arrived the group broke up and police found empty plastic cups in the street.

Police were called to assist in the evacuation of two elderly residents from their Brewster Road home on 3/14 when their heat and lights went off in the storm. Mr. Dowd suffers from Alzheimer’s and initially refused to leave but was eventually convinced to go stay at the Crowne Plaza with his wife.

Deaths: Isadore Levin, age 87 of 8 Brayton Road was suffering from pneumonia and a stroke died at home of natural causes on the morning of March 11th. Mrs. Susan Schweitzer, age 71 of 3 Sherbrooke Road was pronounced dead at 3 am on March 15.