Wrong-way Crashes Dominate Hudson Valley Headlines in Past Week

It’s been a wild week on Hudson Valley roads with two wrong-way crashes occurring on the same day and one driver sentenced for a wrong-way crash that happened in 2015.

Early Wednesday morning, Steven A. Vaughan, 31, of Poughkeepsie, crossed the dividing barrier of the Mid-Hudson Bridge near the Ulster County side and slammed into a car driven by Mark Ashby, 50 of Accord.

Both men were killed, but a passenger in Ashby’s car survived with injuries.

The twist in the story is that police said Vaughan was likely the suspect in a stabbing of a Hyde Park woman in the City of Poughkeepsie before he was killed in the crash.

SEE ALSO:

• UPDATE: Police Release Names of 2 Killed in Mid-Hudson Bridge Crash
• Woman Stabbed By Man Who Died in Mid-Hudson Bridge Car Crash, Police Say

Later Wednesday night, police said Sawyer R. White, 22, of White Plains, was traveling south in the northbound lanes of the Taconic State Parkway when he collided with a vehicle driven by Michael Ioannidis, 62.

Sawyer was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI, after having supplied a breath sample that yielded a blood alcohol content of 0.27 percent, more than three times the legal limit.

Ioannidis was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

SEE ALSO: Wrong-way Taconic Crash Caused by Drunk Driver: Cops

Finally, Zachary Tokson, 24, of Armonk, was sentenced for the 2015 death of Elena Lopez of Mount Kisco.

Tokson was drunk when he left a rest stop on I-684 going in the wrong direction.

He collided with Lopez’s car in the Town of Bedford, killing her instantly.

Tokson had minor injuries, and his passenger also survived the crash with broken ribs and other injuries.

SEE ALSO: Wrong-way Driver Who Killed Mount Kisco Woman Sentenced

Photo credit: Michael Woyton/Patch Staff.