Authorities say a false report Thursday of a hostage situation at a Putnam County residence resulted in a large-scale police response, the lock-downs of nearby schools, and a temporary road closure.
Putnam County Sheriff Donald Smith says the so-called swatting incident began with the false report that prompted lockdowns at the Garrison Union Free School District and Haldane Schools in Cold Spring. Smith says the sheriff’s office received a call shortly after 10:00 a.m. reporting that a woman and her son were being held hostage at gunpoint in a home in the Manitou section of Garrison, along Route 9D, which was then closed for about two hours as sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, and Cold Spring police converged on the home and discovered that the reported situation was false. Democratic New York Congressman Eliot Engel, citing swatting incidents in Westchester County, recently introduced the Anti-Swatting Act. Swatting is named for the SWAT teams that are frequently deployed in response to these phony calls.
