Alleged vending machine theft started the whole thing.
Update: Onondaga County Sheriff's deputies reopened Burnet Avenue between Thompson Road and Carr Street at 6:05 a.m. The area had been closed to traffic to allow officials to conduct their investigation.
East Syracuse, NY -- A man accused of stealing from vending machines in Clay led police on an hourlong chase in a dump truck Tuesday that ended when he rammed a police car and officers shot him on Burnet Avenue in East Syracuse, authorities said.
Stanley Lostumbo, 37, was taken to Upstate University Hospital around 11 p.m. with a "very minor" gunshot wound after being pulled from his 11,000-pound dump truck, said Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh. A female passenger in the dump truck was not injured.
"The officers, fearing for their safety, fired a couple shots," Walsh said. "The driver of the truck was wounded...I believe just a grazing wound."
Later, Walsh called the episode "very crazy and a very unusual set of circumstances." He also credited officers for their restraint during the confrontation.
The chase started at Great Northern Mall and included stretches on Interstate 481 and the streets of East Syracuse, Syracuse and the city's Eastwood section, as well as off-road segments through backyards, a school grounds and down railroad tracks, Walsh said. It's about 17.5 miles from the Clay mall to East Syracuse.
The chase's top speeds were in the 55 to 65 mph range, Walsh said, but included high-speed pursuits through residential neighborhoods. About two dozen residents, who saw the truck barreling near their houses, convened near the scene where the dump truck ended up, near Bristol Myers Squibb and Bill Rapp's car dealership.
Dozens of officers from East Syracuse, DeWitt, Manlius and Syracuse. as well as state police, assisted county sheriff's deputies in the chase, Walsh said. The county's police helicopter, Air One, circled overhead.
At an early-morning press conference, the sheriff gave the following account of what happened:
About 10:30 p.m., Lostumbo was allegedly stealing from a vending machine near Ruby Tuesday's at Great Northern Mall in Clay.
When police tried to stop him, he jumped in a dump truck and took off from the Route 31 mall.
For the next hour, he led police on a winding course down I-481 and into East Syracuse. Later, he barreled through backyards and down a CSX railroad track.
Deputies had to check with the railroad company to make sure no trains were on the tracks.
At some point, the dump truck drove over "stop sticks," meant to disable the vehicle's tires, but it kept going anyway. It struck a utility pole and transformer.
Lostumbo was eventually forced to stop at a police barricade on Burnet Avenue, between Thompson Road and Kane Street, in East Syracuse.
Not giving up, he apparently threw the vehicle into reverse and hit a sheriff's vehicle, which then struck several other patrol cars, including a Syracuse police cruiser.
That led officers to fire several shots at the dump truck. One of the bullets traveled through a window and struck Lostumbo.
Initial reports indicated he was struck in the shoulder.
Lostumbo was then pulled from the dump truck and taken by ambulance to University Hospital.
No one else was reported injured in the chase or its aftermath, Walsh said. Investigators are still working to retrace Lostumbo's route.
This isn't the first time Lostumbo has been in trouble with the law. He was released from prison in March 2009 after a forgery conviction and has a lengthy record of arrests, including burglary, robbery, grand larceny and criminal mischief, according to Walsh and The Post-Standard archives.