Snow Brings Down Trees and Power Lines
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- Hits: 4353
Record setting levels of heavy wet snow have closed schools and roads and even sections of Metro North today. A downed tree on the rails between White Plains and Hartsdale has delayed commuter service to the city – however there are trains in service on a special storm schedule that you can access here:
Scarsdale Police report many downed trees and power lines and many residents have no power. Lieutenant Bryant Clark of the Scarsdale Police asks that residents refrain from driving until roads can be cleared of wires and trees.
The good news is that the White Plains Post Road and all major thoroughfares are open and passable. The Hutchinson River Parkway and Route 287 are both clear and traffic is moving.
According to reports from the Scarsdale Police and residents there are downed wires, branches and trees with some power outages at the following locations:
- Boulevard
- Brewster Road, tree down at Sage and wire down between Huntington and Kingston
- Cambridge Road at Rugby Road - no power
- Brite Avenue, power out near Huntington due to downed tree
- Donellan Road
- Fairway Drive, Mamaroneck no power
- Ferncliff Road no power
- Lawrence Road fallen cable and telephone wires
- Montrose Road
- Park Road
- Putnam Road no power
- Sage Terrace tree down and power out
- Stratton Road near Weaver – utility pole down
- Taunton Road
- Westview Lane no power
- Walworth Avenue fallen wires Winslow Road at Soundview Avenue – White Plains
In Edgemont, a fallen tree has blocked the commuter bus trying to enter the Greenville area at Ardsley and Highland Roads.
Paul Feiner reports the following road closings in Edgemont:
- Benedict
- Fort Hill Road at Ardsley Road
- Taylor Road
- Huntley
- Overhill Road
- Roxbury
- Underhill Road at Sundale Place
If you spot trouble, please let everyone know by posting a comment below or by emailing information and snow photos to: Scarsdalecomments@gmail.com
Drunk Driver, Smashed Window and a Threat
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- Hits: 4522
Intoxicated Driver: Antonio Palanca of Yonkers, who is a student at Westchester Community College was found passed out, and locked in his car at the intersection of Popham Road and East Parkway at 4:15 am on February 19th. He was stopped at a green light, slumped over and breathing, but unresponsive. Police reported that the engine was on and the red 2007 Mazda was in drive.
The car was locked with Palanca was passed out inside and police were unable to wake him. Police called a tow truck to unlock the car and move it. When they opened the door they shook Palanca and shouted at him and he finally woke up, but he was unable to speak coherently or stand on his own. His eyes were bloodshot and he appeared to be intoxicated. When asked if he was drunk, he replied, “I had a few drinks, I thing Vodka.”
He was taken to White Plains hospital by the Scarsdale Volunteer Ambulance Corps where he was evaluated, released and returned to the Scarsdale Police trailer. His Breathalyzer test showed a blood alcohol level of .16% and he was charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated, which is a misdemeanor. He was released on $250 bail and a court date was set.
Smashed: A Harvest Drive resident was home watching television at 10 pm on February 18th when he heard a loud crash in front of his house. He got up to investigate and found that someone had thrown a baseball through the front window of the house and shattered the glass. Neither the man nor his wife are engaged in any disputes and they had no idea who would have done this or why it happened.
Struck: An employee of Scarsdale Hardware was directing a delivery truck on Scarsdale Avenue on 2/18 when he was hit by the mirror of car going north on Scarsdale Avenue. His right arm was struck by the driver’s side mirror of the car and the Ambulance Corps was called. The man refused medical treatment.
Threatened: A sixteen year-old girl from Quaker Ridge came to police with her parents to report a threatening text message she received on her cell phone on February 16th. The message read, “Listen crack baby, don’t ever ever in ur life tell me im a bitch over again. Before I was gonna punch u in the face. Now im gonna kick ur ass.” The message was sent from someone under the age of 18 and the family asked the police to follow-up.
The previous day, the girl’s parents had called police to report that their daughter had violated their PINS (Person In Need of Supervision) agreement and left the house by the second floor balcony door without telling them she was going out. The father contacted the girl on her cell phone and she refused to let her parents know where she was or whom she was with.
Lost and Found:
-Headless Rabbit: a headless rabbit was found underneath a large tree at the Weinberg Nature Center. Police surmised that another animal had attached the rabbit and that the head had not been removed as a part of a satanic ritual or incident of cruelty.
-Key: On 2/19, a gold-plated key attached to a blue carrying case with flowers was found on East Parkway at Christie Place. The key and carrier are now at the police station.
-Wallet: A Coach wallet was found in front of Chase Bank on East Parkway at 7 am on 2/20 and brought to police by a Good Samaritan. Police were able to identify the owner by the content of the wallet and contacted her. She came by and picked it up.
-Walker: A damaged walker was found on the corner of Roosevelt Place and Edgewood Road at 4 pm on 2/19. Police contacted the woman whose name appeared on the walker who denied it was hers.
Safekeeping: A Montrose Road man turned in four semi-automatic guns and two revolvers to police for safekeeping. The guns were the property of his recently deceased father. The man wanted police to hold the guns until he could get permits to own them.
Harassed: An elderly Eastwoods Road woman received a phone call from someone who claimed to be her grandson at 10:30 pm on 2/19. He claimed he had been arrested for drunk driving and was being held in a Mexico City jail. He asked her to send him $4,000 to pay for a rental car he had wrecked. The woman told the caller that she would need to ask her husband and the man called back at 11:50 pm to ask about the status of the funds. He became belligerent and the woman hung up. In the interim, she had determined that the caller was not her grandson.
Damaged: A Griffen Road woman called to report damage to her electronic entrance gate doors on February 22nd. Her housekeeper had seen a post office truck hit the gate on the afternoon of 2/16. Police got in touch with the postal worker who admitted that he did hit the gate due to ice on the road. The post office accepted responsibility for the damage and the resident was instructed to file a claim.
Identity Theft: Unauthorized charges were made on a Lincoln Road family’s debit cards in the amounts of $285 and $170. The charges were made on 2/10 to the Department of Motor Vehicles to pay for fines and violations. In addition, $670.98 was paid to Norton.com on the man’s Amex card on 1/29 – also without his authorization.
Harassment, Robbery and Theft from the Scarsdale Police
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- Hits: 8335
A New Rochelle man was charged with petit larceny on February 3rd for the theft of four two-packs of Right Guard deodorant. Rudy Arcara, age 54, was spotted by store employees as he was leaving CVS on Popham Road with the merchandise. The store manager contacted the police and described the suspect. Police found the man running down Scarsdale Road and brought the store manager to the scene to identify the suspect. Arcara was brought to police headquarters where he was charged and released on $100 bail.
A disturbed woman has been harassing the staff at the Hoff Barthelson School, where her three children have been enrolled for the past eight years. The woman, who has a history of psychiatric problems went to the home of one of the music schoolteachers, sent disturbing emails and displayed troubling behavior. Blaming her problems on the school, the South Salem resident has repeatedly bothered school employees who have asked for police intervention.
Intruders entered a Spier Road home through an unlocked basement door on February 3rd. They tossed the bedroom and took jewelry, including diamond earrings, a watch, two gold necklaces, a bracelet, gold cufflinks and studs, together valued at over $12,000. They left the home via a sliding glass door in the kitchen and when police followed their footprints in the snow they found a black cloth case, two leather wallets and a pair of underwear. Following the footprints further into the woods behind the home, police found four bottles of wine that had been taken from the resident’s refrigerator. The homeowner said that the found underwear was not hers – so perhaps the vandals had been elsewhere as well.
A Sheldrake Road woman reported that an unknown person attempted to open a Best Buy Credit Card account using her social security number and birthday on January 20th. She did not know how the person had gotten access to her personal data and had all of her credit cards and her driver’s license in her possession. In another case of identity theft, a fraudulent Sears MasterCard account was opened in the name of a Madison Road resident on 12/28.
A handyman noticed that someone may have entered a Drake Road home, and he called police on February 4th. The house has been vacant since last January when a gas explosion destroyed the interior. The homeowner was called and it was determined that ServPro had been contracted to do some work on the house. Since they could not get in, they removed some plywood boards covering a window and entered the house. The front door was securely padlocked and Police concluded that everything was intact.
Concerned parents on Black Birch Road called Police at 1 am on 2/7 to say that their 16 year-old daughter was missing. They had dropped her off at a friend’s house in White Plains at 2:30 the previous afternoon and spoken to her at 11 pm when she claimed to be at the Galleria. They had not been able to reach her since that time. Police got in touch with the girl at 1:30 am and she had returned home.
A Dan Sitomer of White Plains man went to the Post Office in Scarsdale Village at 3 pm on 2/1 to say that he had a problem with his car that was parked on Chase Road. He subsequently left there saying that he had cleared up the issue, but later that same day he appeared at police headquarters to say that he was unsure of the location of his keys. He claimed to have been in an accident on 1/29 when his car was parked at CVS in Mamaroneck, but later stated that he drove it to Scarsdale Village on 1/30. Police advised him to retrace his steps and to contact White Plains Police and White Plains hospital in an effort to recover his keys. On February 4th Sitomer was also reported making an unwanted visit to his daughter’s home on Greendale Road.
Fight at the Spotlight Café:
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- Hits: 6737
Greenburgh Police were called to the Spotlight Café on South Central Avenue at 2 am on Sunday morning (2/21) in response to a report of a fight. Upon arrival, officers found a crowd of about forty people yelling and pushing in the parking lot and when they went inside things got even worse. Another crowd of about thirty people was leaving the bar where there had evidently been a big fight. Tables and chairs were overturned, and there was fresh blood and broken glass splattered on the floor.
The remaining witnesses refused to cooperate with the police who were on the lookout for anyone who was injured. Greenburgh Police called the Yonkers Police to help to disburse the crowd who left without further incident.
About an hour later, the New Rochelle police performed a traffic stop and found a bleeding passenger who said he had just come from the Spotlight Café. All three occupants of the car refused to cooperate with the New Rochelle police and said they were going to Sound Shore Medical Center for treatment.
Armed Robbery on East Harstdale Avenue
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- Hits: 4785
An elderly man was robbed on Hartsdale Avenue when he was walking home on Saturday night around 10:40 pm. The victim reported that the robber was holding a pointed instrument. The hold-up occurred around 177 East Hartsdale Avenue. The victim described the robber as a light-skinned black male, around 5’8” tall and 170 pounds in weight who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He was wearing a black jacket over a brown hoodie sweatshirt.
The elderly man lives in the Country Club Ridge Condominiums on Rockledge Road, adjacent to the site of the incident.
Anyone who has information about the crime is encouraged to contact the Greenburgh Police at 914-682-5300.
