POUGHKEEPSIE – Two men were injured and two were arrested Sunday afternoon in Poughkeepsie in an incident that began on Pershing Avenue and spilled over to Maple Street (westbound Route 44/55). City of Poughkeepsie police and fire personnel responded to the scene at approximately 3:10 p.m. The city officers were assisted by multiple units from the Town of Poughkeepsie and Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office.
City of Poughkeepsie police are still investigating the incident that appears to have started as a dispute between two subjects on Pershing Avenue. One subject was reported to have been armed with a knife and the second subject is said to have been chasing the knife-wielding subject.
As the two armed subjects made their way into Maple Street, a BMW sedan, traveling the wrong way pulled up next to the subjects who were fighting, according to the initial police report. A red Nissan sedan, which appears to have also been traveling the wrong way on Maple Street and made contact with the BMW, struck a pedestrian, sending the person airborne from one side of the street to the other. The Nissan sustained substantial damage to the right front passenger side while the driver’s side doors had the sheet metal pulled away. The pedestrian who was on the south side of the three-lane Maple Street was then struck by a grey sedan operated by an individual that was not involved in the initial chain of events.
The original call to 911 reported that a man had been stabbed and a second victim had been shot. A report that has since been proven to be inaccurate.
When the first officers arrived on the 400 block of Maple Street, they observed a man in the roadway wielding a shotgun. Officers ordered him to lower the weapon and he complied immediately. The gun was seized and the man was detained for questioning. A source close to the investigation told Mid-Hudson News that the man with the shotgun was a citizen who was attempting to break up the fight between the two other men. Contrary to the initial reports, no shots were fired from a firearm and no victims sustained gunshot wounds.
The pedestrian and one of the initial Pershing Avenue subjects who had been stabbed were transported to MidHudson Regional Hospital for treatment.
Onlookers alerted police to an individual they identified as the man that stabbed the other victim. He was taken into custody without incident. A second subject was also arrested following the initial investigation. A witness told a Mid-Hudson News reporter that the subject said “I thought I punched him but I may have stabbed him,” before police arrived.
Police who responded to the hospital to interview the victims described one as being “uncooperative” with investigating officers. Detectives have reviewed footage from several area video cameras and interviewed a number of witnesses to the melee.
Anyone who has information regarding the extended incident is asked to call the City of Poughkeepsie confidential TIP LINE at 845-451-7577.
Mid-Hudson News photo gallery of the scene as victims were being loaded into ambulances while officers investigated the incident:
