lohud.com – by Steve Lieberman
GOSHEN — The lawyer for a Sparrowbush man charged in the murder of a Rockland rape fugitive said his client tried twice to help local police capture the suspect, but that cops bungled both attempts.
David Carlson later shot and killed New Hempstead resident Norris Acosta-Sanchez with a 12-gauge shotgun when he showed up on Carlson’s property Oct. 11. Carlson, charged with second-degree murder, was released from jail Friday afternoon after his bail was set at $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond in Orange County Court.
Carlson, 42, told authorities that he confronted Acosta-Sanchez on his property and was walking him at gunpoint to a neighbor’s to call police when the shooting occurred. Acosta-Sanchez, 35, had been the subject of a police manhunt since July, when he fled Rockland County after his indictment on charges involving the statutory rape of a young girl.
Carlson’s lawyer, Ben Ostrer, told The Journal News that Carlson, a carpenter and father of three, began working with police after learning that Acosta-Sanchez was a wanted man. Police said Acosta-Sanchez had been hiding out in a cabin about 70 miles from Rockland, near Carlson’s heavily wooded property on Old Plank Road.
Ostrer said that Acosta-Sanchez confessed to Carlson, and that Carlson called Deerpark town police on Oct. 9 to report that the fugitive was living in the woods near his house. Ostrer said police then made two failed attempts to capture Acosta-Sanchez, using Carlson in both tries.
“He fills out a deposition with the police,” Ostrer said. “The police tell him, ‘If you get him in the car, we’ll pull you over on Route 42.’ So he asks Acosta-Sanchez if he wants to go to Pennsylvania to get some smokes. The police don’t pull the car over. (Carlson) calls the police to ask what happened and he’s told there was a shift change.”
The next day, Ostrer said, Acosta-Sanchez again got into Carlson’s car, which was then pulled over on Route 42 by two Deer Park police cars. “They take Acosta-Sanchez to the cabin so he can get his ID, and he boogies into the woods,” Ostrer said. Acosta-Sanchez then apparently escaped by swimming across the Rio Reservoir.
On Friday, the lawyer said, Acosta-Sanchez “comes back yelling and screaming at Carlson.” He said Carlson, armed with a shotgun, began marching Acosta-Sanchez toward a neighbor’s home to call police. At one point, which Ostrer said was captured on video, Carlson fired his weapon into the ground to alert the neighbor.
As they continued walking, Ostrer said, “Acosta-Sanchez is getting nervous and turns on Carlson and backs him up. More shots are fired.”
Police said Carlson missed Acosta-Sanchez twice before firing two more shots which proved to be fatal. Carlson then called police, who subsequently arrested him.
Deerpark police had no comment on Ostrer’s version of the incident.
Carlson’s wife, Sarah, said she believes in her husband.
“My husband is innocent,” she told reporters shortly after being reunited with David Carlson after he was released on bond.
The case is beginning to make national headlines as commentators debate whether the shooting was an act of vigilante justice or of someone protecting himself and his family.
On Old Plank Road in Sparrowbush, neighbors have been supportive of Carlson.
“What goes through my mind is why didn’t police provided Dave and his family with protection?” one neighbor, Lisa Dilillo, told The Journal News on Thursday. “They called off the search because it was dark, but they left his family — and the other families on the road — there with a fugitive on the loose… I’m not condoning shooting someone, but I think the police really dropped the ball.”
Acosta-Sanchez had been wanted on an arrest warrant since July. Ramapo police said the family of a girl who is not yet 15 reported that he’d had sexual relations with her in late June. He was later indicted by a Rockland grand jury on felony counts of second-degree rape and second-degree criminal sexual act and a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child.
With reports from staff writer James O’Rourke.
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