State Police investigate 1-car fatal crash in Pleasant Valley

Pleasant Valley, New York – On June 11, 2017 at approximately 11:43 a.m., New York State Police from the Poughkeepsie barracks responded to the area of mile post marker 55.4 southbound on the Taconic State Parkway, for a reported one-car rollover auto collision.

A preliminary investigation indicates that a 2014 Subaru Outback, operated by 65-year-old Lawrence Rycyk of Baldwin, NY, was traveling southbound in the passing lane on the Taconic State Parkway, just north of Route 44.  The vehicle exited the western side of the roadway, struck a rock embankment, overturned, and became engulfed in flames.

Good Samaritans removed two occupants from the burning vehicle prior to first responders arriving on scene.  Members of the Pleasant Valley Fire Department immediately rendered aid to the driver and his passenger, Ronnie L. Rycyk, age 64, of Baldwin, New York.  Ronnie Rycyk was pronounced deceased at the scene.  Lawrence Rycyk was transported to Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The collision was reconstructed by the State Police Collision Reconstruction Unit and remains under investigation.