Police: Wild Ride Ends in Flames, DWI Arrest

Witnesses have helped Patch paint an all-too vivid picture of the wild ride that left a trail of devastation spanning two villages. To this police are now adding the last missing pieces: who this man was, what he was charged with, who, ultimately, saved his life.

Tarrytown Police Lt. William Herguth on Tuesday confirmed that the driver who damaged a number of cars, meters and poles from South Washington Street in Tarrytown to North Washington Street in Sleepy Hollow was indeed charged with driving while intoxicated among other offenses.

The 42-year-old man is a Sleepy Hollow resident and faces a series of misdemeanor charges for an incident that started just after midnight on Saturday, Sept. 21.

Herguth, corroborating what witnesses reported, said that a 1998 Ford Expedition going north on South Washington Street first struck a parked vehicle on the west side of the street, damaging another parked car in the process. It then continued on and struck three parking meters on the same side. 

The car then crossed Main St. and went north on North Washington Street. Officer Brian Macom reported seeing it speed through a red light at Wildey Street.

Macam, said Herguth, followed the car to the area of Patriots Park where it was again involved in an accident with a parked vehicle, finally stopping its journey when it crashed head on into a utility pole.

Sleepy Hollow Police Chief Gregory Camp, whose force was also involved in the response, said the accident with the parked car near Patriot's Park "caused a chain reaction that caused extensive damage to a total of four parked vehicles in Sleepy Hollow." 

The car began to smoke from the engine area and soon started to burn. Police called in the fire department, with Tarrytown Engines 79 and 80 responding. 

"The vehicle causing the accident caught fire and that vehicle plus a utility pole were on fire," Camp said.

Officers had to work quickly to pry the driver’s side door open to get the driver out.

This stage of the drama was observed by another bystander who told Patch that police, along with an unknown civilian, struggled to rescue the driver just in time. “The driver was pinned in that truck and they pulled him out right before it was engulfed by the flames,” the witness said. “I couldn’t believe what I saw. Those officers and that man should be recognized.”

Herguth said the officers who helped rescue the man were police officers Macom and Sonia Hennessey. He did not know who the civilian was.

Police found the Sleepy Hollow man to be intoxicated, Herguth said. Tarrytown Volunteer Ambulance Corps took him to Westchester Medical Center for his alleged intoxication where he was charged with:

• DWI,
• passing a red light,
• speed not reasonable and prudent,
• unlicensed operation (expired),
• and leaving the scene of a property damage accident. 

The man was released from the hospital and is due in Tarrytown Court on Wednesday. 

“The driver is fortunate to be alive,” Herguth said. His blood alcohol level has not yet been determined, as “blood was drawn at the hospital and was sent to police lab for analysis which will take some time." 

Note: An arrest does not indicate a conviction.