Afternoon News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on March 14, 2024
A 60 year old Batavia man has been arrested for breaking into a home and attacking the occupants. Randolph Byrd of Batavia was charged with Burglary 2nd, Assault 3rd, Unlawful Imprisonment 2nd, Criminal Obstruction of Breathing, Criminal Mischief 4th, and Resisting Arrest. Byrd was arrested after police responded to a disturbance on East Main St. It’s alleged that Byrd unlawfully entered a residence and engaged in a physical altercation with the victim. Byrd then allegedly resisted arrest and damaged an Officer’s portable radio, when they attempted to take him into custody. He was arraigned in CAP Court and remanded to the Genesee County Jail.
A tractor-trailer driver and four people in another vehicle, including an infant, all have minor injuries following a crash that left the rig dangling off a New York State Thruway overpass this morning. The tandem FedEx tractor-trailer out of Pennsylvania crashed around 8:30 a.m. in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 near Mendon Center Road in Pittsford. A guardrail held the cab up along the Thruway, while the trailers came down onto the road below. Three adults and an infant were in the other vehicle. The driver of the tractor trailer was able to climb out of the cab, which was the only part of the truck still on the bridge, by himself. All five people involved in the crash were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital with “seemingly minor injuries.” The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested three men and one woman who tried to unlawfully enter the United States on a freight train coming from Canada. On Tuesday, agents say they saw four people jumping off of the train on the International Railroad Bridge in the City of Buffalo. Authorities say all four were undocumented people. The woman and two men are from India and the third man is from the Dominican Republic. U.S. Customs and Border Protection say the three men left the woman behind after she got an injury following a foot pursuit. Erie County Sheriff’s Office deputies provided aid to the women. After that treatment, she was transported to a medical center. All three men are being processed for removal and are currently at the Batavia Federal Detention Facility.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown faced questions on Wednesday about how a man, facing 40 federal counts of defrauding loan programs out of millions of dollars, was able to secure a contract with the City of Buffalo. Those questions surround Hormoz Mansouri, who on Monday led a meeting discussing the future of Shoshone Park in North Buffalo. Mansouri, who was federally indicted in March of 2022 with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering, was awarded a contract by the City of Buffalo in 2023 to help redesign Shoshone Park and Trinidad Park on the city’s east side. Mayor Brown said the department of Public Works handled the contracts and he didn’t see them, also that Mansouri’s company wasn’t flagged on any state or federal lists.
The Department of Energy has awarded grants totaling $75.7 million to Plug Power, the Latham-based green hydrogen power company currently constructing a production facility in WNY STAMP in the town of Alabama. The company has also applied for a $1.6 billion low-interest loan from the DOE. That loan is apparently still under consideration. Plug Power wants to provide distribution, delivery, and services and foresees a future for hydrogen that includes uses such as long-haul trucking. Hydrogen is the competitor to electric in vehicle and other fuels and has been shown to be more cost effective and better for the environment than the batteries and power grid needs of electric vehicles.
It’s a holiday where drinking is popular so that means the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office, the City of Batavia Police Department and the Village of LeRoy Police Department will be participating in a coordinated effort with the STOP-DWI program to bring awareness to the dangers of impaired driving. The statewide STOP-DWI efforts start Friday, March 15 and will continue thru Sunday, March 17. St. Patrick’s Day weekend is a notoriously deadly period for impaired driving due to the number of celebrations and drivers on the road. New York State Police, County Sheriffs and municipal law enforcement agencies will be out in force during this across the board effort to reduce the number of alcohol related injuries and deaths.
