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Sheriff organizes DWI checkpoint on Route 85
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Multi-agency police presence arrest three for alcohol-related offenses
SLINGERLANDS–After a series of serious crashes involving impairment by drugs or alcohol on State Route 85—including two recent fatalities—Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple decided to coordinate a response.
So on the weekend before the Christmas holiday, his office, with several law enforcement agencies from surrounding communities, conducted a DWI checkpoint on the same stretch of road near the Town of Bethlehem and Albany City line on Saturday evening, Dec. 21.
“I will be taking some criticism for having this checkpoint around the holidays, but we want people to arrive safely to be with their loved ones this season. It is that simple,” Apple said.
In the last 18 months, Route 85 has had four head-on crashes. Two of those crashes resulted in fatalities. In the four incidents, there were five arrests for impaired driving (one had two DWIs as a witness to a crash was also drunk).
The County uses Stop DWI program money to fund the checkpoints. That money is collected by the State from offenders and allocated back to county and local police departments in the form of grants on a per-capita basis. The money is used to fund patrols and police overtime for extra enforcement.
If a municipality has money remaining in its allocation, Apple said it’s reallocated to areas where it can be used.
Saturday’s checkpoint started at 8 p.m., and before it ended at midnight, police stopped and screened 873 vehicles. Police issued standardized field sobriety tests to 22 motorists; of those, three were arrested and charged with impaired. According to police reports, one was an alleged DWI case, the second a DWAI-Drugs, and the third a DWAI-Alcohol.
“The goal of this checkpoint is to encourage the public to make smart decisions by planning ahead prior to consuming alcohol or other drugs, to remind the public of the dangers that are present on our roadways, and also to ensure the public that law enforcement agencies within Albany County remain united in their effort to keep our roadways safe,” Apple said.
Officers from the Bethlehem Police Department and State Park Police assisted throughout the night, as did five members of the Albany County Probation Department. The State Department of Transportation contributed by providing signs and logistic support.
Why Route 85
Concern about Route 85 is not a new phenomenon for Bethlehem residents.
State Route 85 runs roughly 25 miles, connecting rural Rensselaerville to the I-90 New York State Thruway. But the four miles that stretch between the highway and Blessing Road in Slingerlands has a troubled history. It’s a popular thoroughfare for state employees heading from their homes in Bethlehem to work at the State Campus, or to the interstate. It’s also the fastest route to Albany’s hospitals, Albany Medical Center and St. Peter’s Hospital.
Traffic is permitted to go as fast as 55 mph. The four-lane highway that lies within the city limits is divided by a guardrail. Beyond the city limits, lanes merge into one lane, eachway. A painted yellow lines separates them. The speed limit, however, does not change.
After two high-profile fatal vehicle crashes on the roadway, Spotlight News requested all crash incident reports since 2008 under the Freedom of Information Law, to get a better picture of the scope.
There have been six fatal head-on crashes between Blessing Road and the Albany City line since 1982, and five of them have been linked to drug or alcohol impairment.
In 1982, a crash on the Albany side of the Thruway bridge claimed the life of 20-year-old Michele Martin of Glenmont. She was killed when a driver with a record of five DWI and speeding arrests swerved into the wrong lane of traffic and struck her car head-on.
The driver in that case became the first person convicted of manslaughter for driving drunk.
About 200 yards west of that scene was an August 1987 crash that caused the death of Kathleen Quinn. The 15-year-old, who would have entered 11th grade at Bethlehem Central High School, was riding in the back seat of her parent’s station wagon when the car was hit by an impaired driver. Her mother was severely injured but survived.
The driver, Deborah A. Moquin of Albany, had two prior alcohol-related convictions within five years of being charged in this incident.
Moquin reportedly passed another westbound vehicle before the merge but failed to return to the westbound lane as the Quinn car approached from the opposite direction. This was near the point where the road transitions from four lanes to two lanes over the Thruway bridge, the same area where the two most recent fatal crashes occurred.
On May 11, 2023, 17-year-old Colonie High School senior Michael Kleinke Jr. died after his car was hit by a Mercedes driven by Thomas McGrath of Slingerlands. The accident occurred about 200 feet west of the Thruway bridge.
McGrath crossed the center line and collided head-on with Kleinke’s vehicle, according to accident reports. McGrath was charged with manslaughter, assault, aggravated vehicular homicide, and driving while impaired by the combined influence of drugs—all felonies.
Fifty-one weeks later, on Wednesday morning, May 1, 2024, Selkirk resident Shawna Marzahl died when her SUV was hit by a Subaru WRX driven by Matthew Monthie of Clifton Park, who was speeding at over 100 mph.
Monthie was traveling west, crossed the center line, and crashed head-on into Marzahl. Monthie was charged with manslaughter, assault, aggravated vehicular homicide (all felonies), and three misdemeanors, including DWI and driving while impaired by the combined influence of drugs.
Both McGrath and Monthie have pled not guilty, and their cases are being adjudicated in Albany County Court.
In February 1997, 25-year-old Charles Russo of Voorheesville was hit head-on by an impaired driver as he was on his way to work at the post office. He died the next day in the hospital. The driver, Christopher Mansfield of Saratoga Springs, had three prior DWI convictions within 10 years. This accident occurred near Blessing Road, about a mile from the Thruway bridge.
About 100 yards west of the Thruway bridge, a 91-year-old woman from Liverpool was hit head-on by a concrete truck on November 23, 2005.
The accident occurred as police were attending to a property damage incident on the eastbound side of the road. The cement truck partially pulled into the opposite lane to bypass the accident, and the woman, Jean Ann Raver, did not move over.
The truck rolled over the top of her car’s hood, trapping her. Raver was talking but remained trapped inside. She died a few weeks later from injuries sustained in the crash. Another vehicle also crashed into the front of the cement truck, but that driver survived.
No reports of intoxication and no criminal charges were filed in this crash.
For the overall picture, our investigation found that there have been over 450 crashes on Route 85 since 2008. Many were property damage crashes with no injuries and involved vehicles striking animals.
There were 26, however, that had injuries that required transport to local hospitals by first responders.
As recently as last September, the DOT identified the road as safe based on three years of crash data.
“In the most recently available three-year period from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2023, there were 38 reported crashes on the approximately one-mile stretch between the Blessing Road roundabout and the Albany City line. Of these crashes, 28 were animal-related (27 deer and one coyote),” DOT Regional Traffic Engineer Michael W. Fenley stated in his letter.
Fenley underlined that the two fatal crashes were caused by drivers charged with impairment from alcohol or drugs, noting that this is an enforcement issue rather than a design issue.
“None of the remaining crashes identified unsafe speed as a contributing factor,” he said.
Bethlehem Town Supervisor David VanLuven said it’s not about speed.
“I look at this in terms of the number of fatal accidents in that section of road,” he said. “It is not the same as other roads in town, and we would like to look at enhancements to mitigate that.”
“This is not a good road like it is. People are traveling 65, 75, or even 85 miles per hour to try to be the first car in line after it narrows,” Apple said. “It is crazy.”
Added scrutiny
VanLuven said Bethlehem is not going to sit and wait before the State makes the changes residents feel should be made to the highway. Town Hall has dogeared funds to add additional patrols this year by looking at where state grant money is used.
The town applies for and receives grants each year for initiatives, said Bethlehem Deputy Chief James Rexford, including the State Stop-DWI. These state funds, distributed through counties, are aimed at reducing impaired driving. Two other sources also provide funding for this purpose: a High Visibility Engagement Campaign and Police Traffic Services (PTS) grants, both of which assist the department.
“The purpose of the PTS, in particular, is to reduce personal injury crashes and fatalities,” Rexford said. “The idea is to do targeted enforcement to reduce crashes.”
The grant requires the municipality to submit traffic data on three areas within its jurisdiction to be targeted. Currently, Bethlehem’s three areas are River Road, Route 9W in Glenmont, and Delaware Avenue.
When the department applies for the next round of funding in April 2025, they will change one of the areas of concern, with the new cycle beginning in October 2025.
“We are going to add Route 85 in place of Delaware Avenue,” Rexford said. “We can only target three areas.”
Both Rexford and VanLuven believe that implementing traffic-calming elements on Delaware Avenue should help reduce speeds and crashes on that stretch. Rexford added that while police are not stopping enforcement on Delaware Avenue, they will add more targeted roving patrols on Route 85.
Apple said the department will be doing others on Route 85 and other places in the County that are “known routes of travel” for impaired drivers. “They avoid the places that are known to have enforcement,” he said.
“We like to do these things around the Superbowl or Thanksgiving or hot times of the year when people are known to go out and drink,” Apple added.
“We want to send a message.”
The numbers on Route 85:
450 crashes since 2008 (many were involving animals)
26 required EMS transporting to local hospitals
6 fatal crashes since 1983
5 deaths occurred near the Albany line, 2 in last 18 months
4 head-on crashes in 18 months, 2 were fatal, 5 arrests for impairment on those.
873 vehicles checked on December 21
22 drivers were given a secondary check on December 21
3 drivers arrested for impairment at on December 21
