YONKERS – Police in Yonkers said Friday that the driver of the BMW that struck a police car killing Yonkers Sergeant Frank Gualdino was a 16-year-old male Yonkers resident who had obtained a learner’s permit just three weeks ago.
Sgt. Gualdino, 53, was assigned to the Yonkers Police Traffic Unit and was due to retire in nine months. He was on duty at the time of the accident.
Police investigating the crash on Tuckahoe Road at the Sprain Brook Parkway overpass shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Thursday involved the car driven by the teen, Sgt. Gualdino in an unmarked Yonkers Police vehicle, a 2012 Chevrolet Impala, and a Westchester County Bee-Line bus with 30 passengers.
According to police, the teen was driving at a high rate of speed when he apparently lost control, swerved into the opposite lanes of traffic, first striking the police car and then the bus, resulting in catastrophic impacts.
The incident, including before and after, was captured on surveillance video.
Sgt. Galdino leaves behind his wife and two children, ages 14 and 20.
Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano called Galdino “a cop’s cop” and the epitome of Yonkers Finest. “Yonkers is a close tight-knit community and when we lose one member of our enforcement community, we all feel a sense of grief,” he said.
