–DISPUTE OVER NOISE TURNS VIOLENT–
Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports that a Philipstown man has been charged with stabbing another man in a fight between neighbors.
Mr. Raymond Hickey, aged 28, of 9 North Albany Post Road, Apartment C, in Philipstown, was arrested by sheriff’s deputies and charged with felony assault in the incident, which occurred at around 2:00 o’clock this morning (Sunday, May 3rd). Mr. Hickey is accused of stabbing the victim, a 29-year-old man, who lives in another apartment in the same building.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the apartment house at about 2:15 A.M. to investigate a 911 call reporting that a person had been stabbed there. Upon their arrival, deputies found the victim in his apartment, bleeding profusely from a wound to his chest. An ambulance was summoned and the victim was transported to Saint Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, as the apartment house is located off U.S. Route 9 close to the Putnam-Dutchess county line.
Doctors at the hospital performed emergency surgery to repair a laceration of the victim’s heart. The victim remains hospitalized in “stable” condition following the surgery.
Deputy Sheriff William Verrastro was the first emergency responder at the scene. He located Mr. Hickey in his apartment and detained him while sheriff’s investigators canvassed the apartment house for witnesses. The sheriff’s forensics unit processed the crime scene.
According to information developed by investigators, Mr. Hickey and his neighbor became embroiled in an argument over noise, and a confrontation ensued outside their apartments. The dispute escalated into a physical altercation and Mr. Hickey allegedly stabbed the other man once in the chest with a knife. Investigators recovered a knife at the scene that is believed to be the one that inflicted the wound.
Mr. Hickey was arraigned before Philipstown Town Justice Alan Steiner, who remanded the defendant to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bail bond. Mr. Hickey was ordered to return to the court on May 13th to answer the charges. He remains held in the jail as of the time of this News Release.
