Syracuse, NY -- The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office is reviewing a chase of a dump truck Tuesday night which stretched from Great Northern Mall in Clay over highways, streets, through backyards and on train tracks to Burnet Avenue in DeWitt, where it ended in gunfire. Sheriff Kevin Walsh said this chase was “different,” but appeared to meet the rules...
Stanley LostumboSyracuse, NY -- The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office is reviewing a chase of a dump truck Tuesday night which stretched from Great Northern Mall in Clay over highways, streets, through backyards and on train tracks to Burnet Avenue in DeWitt, where it ended in gunfire.
Sheriff Kevin Walsh said this chase was “different,” but appeared to meet the rules the sheriff’s office has for police pursuits.
It started as an attempt to pull over a suspect for criminal mischief and petit larceny, he said. The pursuit down Interstate 81 was just 5 mph over the speed limit, Walsh said.
“After he got off 81, he became extremely reckless,” Walsh said of Stanley Lostumbo, 37, of 4403 James Street, DeWitt.
Lostumbo is facing two charges of attempted murder stemming from the chase.
While the chase was going on, supervisors were taking into consideration the time of day, the conditions, the traffic, the suspect’s actions and other factors in deciding whether to cut off the chase or to continue, Walsh said.
The chase, however, “escalated very quickly in the backyards,” Walsh said. The dump truck, stopped momentarily in back yard on Beard Avenue in DeWitt, backed up at an officer who then fired his pistol at the vehicle.
“It became a defend-your-life situation,” Walsh said. “It was a defensive reaction.”
The sheriff’s chase review committee will be looking at hours of tape from the crash and interviewing participants in the coming weeks, he said.