GOSHEN – A Beekman man is under arrest after he allegedly held up the Rhinebeck Bank branch in Goshen around 5 p.m. on Friday and led police on a chase with his arrest later that night.
State Police from the Monroe barracks assisted Goshen Village Police with the investigation after a man walked into the bank, handed a teller a note demanding money, and fled out the back door.
Troopers were provided with a description of the suspect and vehicle, a Honda Civic that had been stolen in a carjacking in the City of Newburgh at around 3:30 p.m. the same day.
At about 9:42 p.m., troopers located the car on Long Mountain Circle, but the driver, later identified as Leonard Dolson, 45, failed to comply and drove south in the northbound lanes of the Palisades Interstate Parkway. Rockland County police agencies stopped northbound traffic.
Dolson eventually drove across the median and continued south in the southbound lanes exiting at exit 14 onto Willow Grove Road. The car stopped in the middle of the road.
The suspect got out and fled on foot down an embankment and into a ravine. A trooper and two Stony Point officers caught him as he was running through a stream.
During the pursuit, the trooper saw Dolson dump money in the woods. It was recovered and turned over to Goshen Village Police.
In the course of the chase, two troopers were injured and taken to Nyack Hospital where they were treated and released.
Dolson was brought up from the bottom of the ravine and transported to Nyack Hospital where he was charged by State Police and turned over to Goshen Police.
Troopers charged him with criminal possession of stolen property and reckless endangerment, both as felonies. He was also charged with misdemeanors of DWI, reckless driving and fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle.
