HYDE PARK – The Republican candidate for Hyde Park town supervisor has openly admitted to shooting a man in the Village of Wappingers Falls in 1988. Alfred “Al” Torreggiani was arrested and charged with felony assault for shooting Ronald Sneyd during an altercation.
In the end, the grand jury refused to indict him Torreggiani acknowledging the shooting was in self-defense.
At the time of the 1988 incident, Torreggiani claimed that he shot Sneyd after Sneyd attacked him with a 12-inch butcher knife during an altercation in Torreggiani’s apartment.
“Sneyd stood over me and threatened to kill me,” Torreggiani to Mid-Hudson News. “I felt threatened and fired my weapon once, striking him in the arm but he was not deterred,” said the candidate. “When he kept charging, I fired again and struck him in the chest,” recounted Torreggiani, who explained that Sneyd then proceeded to destroy furniture in the apartment before jumping out of the apartment window and running away from the scene. He was found a short while later by police.
Torreggiani turned himself into the police at the scene. He was arrested on assault charges and arraigned before Judge Ray Chase who remanded him to the Dutchess County Jail. Represented by the late William Tendy, Torreggiani appeared before a grand jury who refused to indict him on the charges, and the case was dismissed.
“The grand jury recognized that I acted in self-defense and the case was dropped,” said Torreggiani. Noting that the political mudslinging caused the issue to resurface after more than 30 years, the candidate said, “People opposed to my candidacy were quick to point out that I was involved in a shooting but never disclosed that it was determined that I acted in self-defense.”
