Mahopac Man Accused of Brandishing Gun at Bus Driver

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 were on the bus at the time. 

Following an investigation assisted by the Westchester County Real Time Crime Unit, the suspect vehicle was located later that evening traveling northbound on the Taconic State Parkway. Members of NYSP-Hawthorne and its Bureau of Criminal Investigation, assisted by the Troop K Community Stabilization Unit while assigned to the District Attorney’s Safer Highway initiative, conducted a traffic stop.

The operator, Michael Alarcon, 19, was found to be driving with a suspended New York State driver’s license and possessed a loaded handgun.

He was taken into custody and transported to NYSP-Hawthorne for processing and charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon for having a loaded firearm, and two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon for having an ammunition-feeding device and defacing the gun for concealment, all felonies.

He was also charged with second-degree menacing, three counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and third-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, all misdemeanors.

Alarcon was arraigned in Mount Pleasant Court.