2017 Year In Review: Unusual Crime Stories In The Hudson Valley

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Some crime reports are more interesting or notable than others. Here are a few that fall into that category from 2017.

Nowhere in the Hudson Valley are you far from water, but it was still surprising when state Department of Environmental Conservation personnel netted — literally — seven live sandbar sharks in the basement of a Lagrangeville home Aug. 23. There were also two dead leopard sharks and one hammerhead shark.

Two instances of road rage occurred in the Hudson Valley drew interest in 2017. A mother and her three children were mowed down in a act of road rage June 26 in Spring Valley. A 3-month-old boy was in a stroller at the time when Albert Gomez, 62, sped onto the shoulder of Route 59 and crashed into the family. The child eventually died of his injuries July 5. A Hartsdale man was stabbed on the Taconic State Parkway around 10:30 p.m. May 27 in the Town of Mount Pleasant. Daniel Siino, 28, died of his wounds, and Christian A. Walczyk, 21, of Pleasant Valley, was charged with felony first-degree manslaughter. Police said Siino had engaged in a road rage incident that turned deadly.

On Christmas Eve, a woman in Congers mistook a railroad crossing for the entrance to a restaurant. She was able to get out of her car before a train smashed into it. Watch the video.

Fox News host Jeanine Pirro was caught speeding Nov. 19 in the Town of Nichols, Tioga County. The former Westchester County district attorney was clocked traveling 119 mph in a 65 mph zone. She said she was driving to visit her ailing mother and didn’t realize how fast she was going.

Police said a Queens woman intentionally rammed a 10-year-old deaf child with a shopping cart Feb. 25 at the Walmart in Cortandt. She was charged with assault and endangering the welfare of a minor.

Sixty-one live cats and nine dead ones were found in May in a house of horrors in Kent in Putnam County. Authorities said the conditions they found were unfit for both human and animal existence. The cats were removed and taken to the Westchester Animal Hospital in Mount Vernon.

Police arrested a Tarrytown man, who was an assistant wrestling coach at Edgemont High School, after an investigation into illegal sexual contact with a minor. Tyler Sick, 29, is also a school teacher in New York City.

Mahopac resident and grandmother Perla Gatchalian was found dead of a single gunshot wound April 27. An investigation found that the person who killed her was her daughter’s 69-year-old father-in-law. He then killed himself.

Photo credit: NYS DEC.