This past Tuesday night I was enroute to Voorheesville around 8pm. I stopped at the Upper New Scotland Avenue Stewarts to get gas and noticed one of those sporty little Dodge police cars whiz by with lights and sirens on. Across the street from Holy Names Academy. The road was blocked off and my passenger counted "at least nine" police cars and a fire truck along with a few unmarked police cars parked a ways up McCormack Road. we had no clue what was going on. My passenger commented "this would be a great time to rob a bank on the other side of town" - which triggered a conversation about how police seem to get bunched up every afternoon in Albany, shepherding the Albany high kids walking home from school. The topic turned to Memorial Day and other subjects. After I safely delivered my passenger, I passed the scene again going home around quarter-to-nine and again at 10pm, the road still blocked off and police still there. Whatever it was, I reckoned, had to be bad - perhaps a hostage situation or a terrorist cell - I was amazed to hear it involved a child on a bike hit by a car. The TV news reports didn't offer much in the way of information. It wasn't until the Times Union story that all the details were made public.

A now-deceased 11-year-old Albany boy waited 25 minutes for an ambulance to arrive following a collision between his bicycle and a car, city police said.

Benjamin Cocco of Wood Terrace had to wait for an ambulance to arrive from Troy after he suffered a severe head injury during the crash at the intersection of McCormack Road Tuesday night, staff writer Christen Gowan reports.

The comments on the newspaper's blog raise many issues. Perhaps the most troubling is the un-availability of the ambulance service, which has a garage minutes from New Scotland Avenue. I'm sure there will be much investigating and reporting in the days and weeks to come. As many times as I've driven by the ambulance garage and seen employees and vehicles sitting idle, I can't help but think it was the worst of coincidences that the service was maxed out on the night of this tragedy. Like you, I'm dusting off the bike helmets. You never know.
----------
This message is from a Virgin Mobile customer. Enjoy.