EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — The DeWitt Police Department says a man was hit and killed by a DeWitt Police vehicle along Bridge St., in East Syracuse, around 10:30 p.m. Monday night.

The victim has been identified as 68-year-old Steven Zalewski, of Syracuse.

It happened in the southbound lanes near the 690 W. interchange, in the left lane, which led to the road being shut down for several hours.

The officer, now identified as Kevin Skibinski, was on his way to another call that was unrelated when he hit the Zalewski, who according to DeWitt Police, “was down in the roadway.” He was not engaged in emergency vehicle operations at the time, with no lights or sirens in-use.

DeWitt Police say that the preliminary investigation revealed the pedestrian was walking on the sloped median in a northeasterly direction and was wearing dark clothing prior to the collision.

Officer Skibinski had reported to seeing a “dark object in the roadway and being unable to avoid it or change lanes due to vehicles to his right, and a raised median to his left.

The officer then stopped and got out of his car to see what he had hit, which is when he found the deceased victim.

That portion of the roadway is a posted 40 mph zone, and DeWitt Police says their officer was travelling at 37 mph when he was headed towards the intersection.

“GPS Data from the Computer Aided Dispatch system in the Officer’s vehicle showed him to be
traveling at 37 MPH as he was approaching the intersection of Manlius Center and Bridge St in a
westerly direction, and then 28 MPH near the site of the collision,” said DeWitt Police.

The Department added that Skibinski has been an officer with DeWitt Police since 2014, and was driving a 2018 Ford Explorer marked patrol vehicle at the time of the incident.

All lanes reopened around 5:45 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The DeWitt Police Department has been in contact with the Attorney General’s Office of Special
Investigations regarding this incident.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (315) 449-3640 or email tips@townofdewitt.com.