Stanley Lostumbo
/ File photo
EAST SYRACUSE -- The East Syracuse man shot at by police following a high speed chase will spend the next 5 to 10 years in prison.
38-year-old Stanley Lostumbo was convicted of multiple charges including criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.
In September of 2010, Lostumbo, of James Street, led authorities on a chase after he was caught trying to steal from a vending machine outside Great Northern Mall in Clay.
After he was caught by mall security, investigators say he hopped in a stolen dump truck and took off, leading police down Interstates 481 and 690, down a railroad track, through backyards and school grounds through East Syracuse neighborhoods at speeds up to 65 miles per hour.
The chase ended in DeWitt near the intersection of Thompson Road and Burnet Avenue. Investigators say Lostumbo rammed the dump truck into one of the patrol cars, and that's when police opened fire, shooting into the dump truck and grazing Lostumbo's shoulder.
Assistant District Attorney Robert Moran says he believes police acted appropriately, despite the fact that Lostumbo claims otherwise. Moran says Lostumbo wrote a letter to the judge, asking "What kind of idiot runs towards the back of a moving vehicle?" referring to police as they were trying to stop Lostumbo. Moran says, "I refer to these officers, I think appropriately, as professionals who acted responsibly, who are out there to try to protect you and I. For Mr. Lostumbo to somehow depict this as their responsibility is an insult to the good work that police officers do."
During the trial, Lostumbo's lawyer also accused police of breaking their own policy by having too many vehicles involved in the chase. However, Moran says each circumstance is different. "This was a relatively low speed chase," he says, "This is a dump truck. There is no policy for dump truck chases."
A passenger in the dump truck, 20-year-old Kyla Kazel, was also injured by a bullet fragment and was charged with petit larceny, criminal mischief, criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
