GARRISON – A report of a hostage situation in a Garrison home on Thursday morning caused a large-sale police response, which included the lock-down of nearby schools and a temporary highway closure.
A caller told the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office reported that a woman and her son were being held hostage at gunpoint in a home in the Manitou section of Garrison along Route 9D.
As a result, the nearby Garrison Union Free School and the Haldane Elementary and High Schools in Cold Spring locked down as a precaution. Route 9D in that area was closed down for two hours as police converged on the house to discover the hostage situation was false.
Hoaxes of this nature have been dubbed “swatting” with the intent of the caller to have the police roll out their SWAT – special weapons and tactics – forces.
Sheriff Donald Smith called such incidents “the product of a sick, twisted and criminal mind” and said falsely reporting an emergency causes serious disruptions in a community and puts innocent persons and officers at risk.
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