A New York Police Department sergeant from Putnam County was recently found guilty of second-degree manslaughter after throwing a cooler at a fleeing suspect in August of 2023, leading to the man’s death. Sgt. Erik Duran, 38, pleaded not guilty during his bench trial, in which there was no jury – just a judge hearing the arguments and rendering the verdict. He was convicted Feb. 6 by Bronx Supreme Court Judge Guy Mitchell and faces up to 15 years in prison. Sentencing is sche

A Mahopac man was arrested last week following a road rage/menacing incident in which he allegedly aimed a loaded gun at a school bus driver. New York State Police at Hawthorne received a walk-in complaint Feb. 4 from a school bus driver who reported that, while driving on the Taconic State Parkway southbound near exit 3 in Mount Pleasant, the driver of another vehicle pointed a handgun at him. In addition to the driver, a bus monitor and three children with special needs wer

Achievement-minded parents of the 21st century wish their children read more. A mere glimpse of their teenager engrossed in a paperback would probably leave a permanent grin on Mom and Dad. The fact that one smartphone has access to all of the world’s media and can feed every imaginative impulse is a force that can overshadow the simple act of picking up a book. Things used to be different. In those ancient, pre-internet, pre-scrolling days, we had to physically source our ow