Chaos, gunfire on I-90
Man on life support after shootout with police By KENNETH C. CROWE II AND ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writers
First published in print: Sunday, January 11, 2009
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=758899
EAST GREENBUSH - A cab ride from Connecticut ended in chaos and gunfire on Interstate 90 Saturday afternoon as people abandoned their vehicles and ran for cover during a gunfight between police and a taxi passenger.
The aftermath included one man on life support late Saturday and several unanswered questions. Despite the barrage of gunfire, no other injuries - either of police or others - were reported. But scores of motorists, as well as those who live near the stretch of highway, were rattled.
"I was driving to visit my daughter in Albany, and the next moment I'm running down I-90 for my life,'' said Carol Winn, 54, of Valatie.
It all began Saturday morning when a man used a credit card to pay for a ride in a Yellow Cab Co. taxi, Rensselaer County District Attorney Richard McNally said. At about 11:55 a.m., the cab apparently was speeding west on the interstate when an eastbound trooper spotted it, turned around and pulled it over about a mile west of Exit 10.
As the trooper spoke to the cabdriver, the passenger in the rear seat apparently pulled a weapon and fired, McNally said.
The Southern Rensselaer County SWAT team was training nearby when the shootout started and responded, McNally said. He said it was his understanding that one of the SWAT team members shot the man.
The man is on life support with gunshot wounds at Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he was taken after being hit, authorities said. Many questions remained Saturday night, including the identity of the man, where he was headed, the weapon used and the number of shots exchanged.
Winn and many other motorists - it was difficult to be precise as to how many - found themselves caught on the highway as bullets whizzed by them.
"I came up on the scene. Then we were told to flee. I heard a shot. The car next to me had a bullet mark on it,'' Winn said, likening the sounds to cap guns firing.
Some drivers backed up. Others crossed the snowy median to the eastbound lanes, and some left their vehicles and ran, another witness said.
"I thought maybe it's a bear they have to euthanize," the man said. "Then people are starting to get out of their cars ... it was total chaos."
John and Susan Stengrevics of Carlisle, Mass., were driving west to visit a relative in Albany when they had to stop. The couple heard the first round of shots as they stopped at the line of halted cars. "We put the car in park and crouched down," Susan Stengrevics said. "We didn't know where to go."
A Delmar couple coming back from the Berkshires with their two beagles were stopped in traffic when they saw a state trooper running past cars with his pistol drawn.
"It was pretty frightening," said Devin McKeon, who was traveling with his wife, Sacha, both 24. They heard "a volley of shots" and joined the people running for safety.
"It was 40 minutes to an hour before the shots stopped,'' Sacha McKeon said.
The McKeons and Winn each saw an SUV back up the interstate and speed away from the shooting scene. Winn and another witness said the hatch door was up and man was in the rear of the vehicle.
Police from several agencies quickly closed the interstate between exits 9 and 10 in both directions as they confronted the suspected gunman. The road reopened shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday. Yellow crime tape extended across the highway near the 11.8- mile marker from each shoulder of the road.
Troopers interviewed people who were on the interstate during the gunplay. Troopers were marking where each vehicle was on the highway, witnesses said.
In their short news release, State Police in Loudonville said the man was "now in police custody."
Telephone calls to the Yellow Cab Co. in Hartford, Conn., about the fare were not returned.
East Greenbush Town Supervisor Richard McCabe said he understands, after talking with police, that the man "came out firing."
"From a town perspective, it's something you see on TV," McCabe said. "You don't expect it to happen in your neighborhood."
Investigators were going over the shooting scene into the night and the cabdriver was being interviewed by police, McNally said.
"State Police and other jurisdictions were present, so they're going to thoroughly investigate the situation, check all the weapons fired, check all the weapons," McNally said.
Officers from the State Police, East Greenbush, Schodack, Rensselaer and Rensselaer County sheriff's departments were at the scene.
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