Morning News Brief
Written by Dan Fischer on September 20, 2021
More details are expected later today from the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office about last night’s traffic stop where the driver fled on foot and shot at police.
It started on near Mill Road on Rt. 33 in Stafford just after 6 p.m. yesterday when Howard Owens, from our news partner The Batavian, called police about a car driving erratically. He said a sheriff’s deputy pulled the car over and the driver burst out of the car, fled on foot into a corn field, pulled out a weapon and started shooting. For the next five hours, a search for the man included Batavia police, a K-9 unit, a State Police helicopter, and the Monroe County SWAT team. The man was taken into custody just before midnight. A female passenger in the suspect’s car was also taken into custody.
Owens gives the whole timeline of last night’s incident at TheBatavian.com.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a plan to address the shortage of bus drivers that is plaguing many school districts across the state. In the short-term, the state will expand testing opportunities for interested drivers to get their CDL license, and the DMV is removing the 2-week waiting period between the permit and road tests – an effort to get more drivers into school buses.
Hochul is also directing state agencies to come up with a plan to recruit more drivers – including reaching out to the more than 550,000 CDL license holders in New York state to gauge interest in becoming a school bus driver.
This past weekend, Rep. Lee Zeldin, the leading Republican candidate for next year’s governor’s race, said he was diagnosed with leukemia last year. The Long Island lawmaker issued a statement Saturday saying he was diagnosed in November with early-stage chronic myeloid leukemia and began immediate treatment. The 41-year-old said he’s achieved complete remission and expects to lead a normal life.
Today is the kickoff of Sheriffs’ Week in the state which celebrates the contributions of Sheriff Offices across the state. Here in Genesee County, the Sheriff’s Office was established in 1802. The Sheriff’s Office says its duties go beyond just keeping the peace, the Sheriff’s Office also maintains the county jail, provides security to courts and schools, runs animal control, and dispatches emergency services, among other duties.
