Leaf blower summonses rose for the third consecutive month in May, while arrests also climbed in reversing a downward trend seen since January, year-over-year Rye PD data shows.
Police issued 37 leaf blower summonses this May, up 208 percent from May 2024, when just 12 summonses were issued.
The increase has been a trend over the past three months, as March and April saw leaf blower summonses increases of 13 and 37, respectively, compared to 2024 numbers, according to the police department’s monthly statistics.
Lt. Michael Anfuso said the uptick followed the department’s decision to assign officers overtime to more actively respond to city code complaints.
There was also a significant increase in arrests in May, from four in May 2024 to eight arrests, the data shows.
Rye police arrested James Sanders, 37, and Matthew Maldonado, 21, in separate incidents on May 1, both for driving without a license. Sanders was pulled over on Rosemere Street and Maldonado was stopped on Boston Post Road near Peck Avenue.
Three arrests took place on May 16, two of them for trespassing on the grounds of 1 Parsons St. — the Rye High School and Rye Middle School joint campus — at around 1:30 a.m. Later that morning, at about 11 a.m., Kevin Lopez, 25, was cuffed for driving without a license at Mead Place and Locust Avenue.
Nashikah Lamour, 27, was arrested for driving without a license near the Rye train station on May 22. Amanda Reid, 29, faced the same charge when she was pulled over by police on May 24 at the intersection of Midland Avenue and Playland Parkway.
Fugitive Daniel Twomey, of Lodi, N.J., was arrested on May 29 on an outstanding warrant stemming from a September 2023 incident where the 40-year-old was allegedly involved in a domestic dispute and kidnapping.
Although they weren’t the arresting officers, Rye police assisted state police in the apprehension of the teen driver who caused a multi-car crash on I-95 near Rye on Memorial Day. They also provided aid to state police on May 20 when a 55-year-old Newburgh man, Jose Reyes-Marquez, was arrested for exposing and touching his genitals while driving on I-684.
Calls for police service in Rye increased by 19 percent this May, the stats show, with 3,023 calls compared to last year’s 2,975. And city code complaints increased to 16 this May, compared to only nine during the same period in 2024.
This article was updated on August. 21 at 5:30 p.m.
