POUGHKEEPSIE – Several police agencies investigated a multi-car accident that included a gunshot victim and a stabbing victim on Maple Street (westbound 44/55 arterial) in the City of Poughkeepsie. The incident occurred at approximately 3:10 p.m. on Sunday.
Three vehicles were disabled on the roadway. Two appeared to have struck each other adjacent to Jewett Avenue where they both came to a rest. The third vehicle, a BMW sedan, was in the center lane of Maple Street, facing the wrong direction, a few feet away from the other two vehicles.
City of Poughkeepsie firefighters and EMS personnel were forced to stage away from the scene until police secured the area. Once they rolled in, firefighters and ambulance personnel treated two victims; one victim with a gunshot wound and one with multiple stab wounds and a bleeding head injury. The stabbing victim was unable to breathe without assistance. Both victims were transported to a local hospital for further treatment.
A witness told Mid-Hudson News that he called 911 after seeing a portion of the incident taking place. “I was driving down the road and saw a man chasing another man with a bat. He whacked the guy in the head with the bat and the guy fell down. He was still attacking him when a guy with a gun ran up and told him to stop beating the man. I think he shot the guy with the bat,” the witness said. I drove past and called 911 before I went around the block and came back to wait for the cops,” he stated, asking to remain anonymous as the crowd of onlookers continued to grow.
The City of Poughkeepsie Police, with the assistance of Town of Poughkeepsie Police officers and Dutchess County Sheriff’s deputies secured several witnesses and transported or escorted them to police headquarters to be interviewed.
Police supervisors at the scene requested detectives be called in and report to the scene.
Maple Street was closed to traffic between Corlies and Pershing Avenues until approximately 5:00 p.m.
(Video: Mark Lieb, Rockland Video Productions)
