Yonkers, NY – The Yonkers community is mourning today after the loss of a veteran police officer who was killed in a multi-vehicle collision Thursday afternoon.
According to police, at around 3:34 pm, officers were dispatched to the Sprain Brook Parkway overpass on Tuckahoe Road on a report of a motor vehicle accident.
“Upon arrival First Responders observed a multi-vehicle accident involving two sedans and an occupied Westchester County Bee-Line bus; the involved sedans were a 2020 BMW M5 and an unmarked Yonkers Police vehicle, a 2012 Chevrolet Impala,” the department said in a statement on Friday. “Both sedans were occupied only by the operators; the bus had approximately thirty passengers. The operators of the BMW and police vehicle suffered devastating blunt force injuries to their heads and bodies and were transported to local area trauma centers in critical life-threatening conditions. The operator of the bus suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and several bus passengers were treated at the scene for minor injuries. Police cordoned off the area and initiated an investigation into the accident.”
According o preliminary investigation information, the bus and the police vehicle were traveling westbound on Tuckahoe Road in parallel, and the BMW was traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed.
“The BMW operator apparently loses control of the vehicle and swerves into the opposite lanes of traffic, first striking the police vehicle then the bus resulting in catastrophic impacts. The incident, including before and after, was captured on surveillance video,” police said.
Yonkers Police Traffic Unit Sergeant Frank Gualdino, a 24-year veteran of this Department. Sergeant Gualdino was rushed to the hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
Sergeant Gualdino was 53-years-old and leaves behind a wife and two children, ages 14 and 20.
Sergeant Gualdino was on duty as a traffic supervisor at the time of the accident. In nine months, he was scheduled to retire. The driver of the BMW is a 16-year-old male resident of Yonkers who is currently in critical condition at a local hospital. As a result of his age, his identity remains confidential. The defendant did not possess a driver’s license, only a learner’s permit obtained less than three weeks earlier. Additionally, he is a student at a local private school.
“Our hearts are heavy as the City of Yonkers has experienced an insurmountable loss. Sergeant Frank Gualdino was a cop’s cop and the epitome of Yonkers Finest. Yonkers is a close tight-knit community and when we lose one member of our law enforcement community, we all feel a sense of grief. Frank was someone we all knew and loved,” Yonkers Supervisor Mayor Mike Spano said. “He was a friend and a family man – the best of all of us and the best of Yonkers. May God protect Frank on his final journey and watch over wife, Lisa and children Emily and Mark. Rest easy, Frank. You are Yonkers Strong.”