HomeMy WebLinkAboutkirchgesner greg_0004C"ops arrest hit-and-run suspect
Baldwinsville man held in Kirchgessner case
By J.R. CLAIRBORNE
and BRUCE ESTES
Jounwl Stafl'
LANSING — Tompkins
County Sheriffs Department
investigators charged a motorist
Wednesday in the February hit-
and-run that killed Gregory
Kirchgessner of Enfield as he
rode his bicycle to work before
dawn on Route 79.
Senior Investigator Mark
Dresser said that a white male was
charged Wednesday and arraign-
ed in Tompkins County,'although
he would not specify the court.
The driver was sent to the
Tompkins Countyjail.
The name of the driver was not
disclosed. Dresser said the driver
is from Baldwinsville but has
friends here.
More information, such as the
person's identity, the charges, the
location of the arrest, and what
allegedly happened, ,AU be
revealed at a news conference
scheduled for noon today.
"We still have investigators in
the field tonight," Dresser said.
"To disclose more information
might damage their efforts or put
them in an unsafe situation."
A person familiar with the case
said the driver had been at a party
in Burdett, west of Enfield, the
night before Kirchgessner was hit.
Wednesday's arrest concluded
the investigation by the sheriff's
department and the state police
Major Crimes Unit into [he death
of Kirchgessner, administrative
coordinator of the Tompkins
County Assigned Counsel Pro-
gram for criminal defendants who
can't afford a lawyer.
Kirchgessner, 50, was struck
and killed by a car as he rode his
bicycle to his job in Ithaca shortly
before 6 a.m. Feb. 4.
016 .04
3rchgessner Iresser
Witnesses to the incident told
investigators that the car, then
described as a mid-1980s light -
blue Mercury Sable, swerved,
struck Kirchgessner and kept
going without ever slowing.
K rchg xsrrer s death devastated
the Enfield community, where
Kirchgessner, a father of two, was a
veteran volunteer firefighter. The
Enfield Volunteer Fire Company
donated more than $2,000 to a
reward for information leading to
an arrest, and posters advertising
See SUSPECT, 4A