Video shows SUV shortly before deadly New Year’s crash
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — New video shows the SUV involved in the deadly Kodak Center crash on New Year’s Day. The crash killed three people, including the SUV driver; hurt nine people leaving a concert; and injured two paramedics who ran to help.
The video takes us to the empty parking lot behind West Ridge Road, about a 35-second drive to Kodak Center. The owner of the video says the Rochester Police Department told him they tracked the SUV to the lot. So they searched the security video.
It shows the suspected SUV going east on Ridge Road. The cameras followed it to the parking lot behind the street. For three minutes, the driver gets in and out of the SUV. Then he gets out one more time and starts to walk toward Ridge Road. It was at 12:20 a.m. Monday.
The cameras in the parking lot followed the driver walking up Woodside Street. A minute later, the cameras record the driver walking back to the SUV. When he started driving out of the parking lot, it was 12:30 a.m., roughly 20 minutes before the crash that engulfed the SUV in fire.
On Tuesday, Rochester Police Chief David Smith said the driver was Michael Avery from Syracuse. He said, “Nothing thus far has been recovered that provides any additional insight into why this occurred.” Police spoke to Avery’s family and believe Avery was suffering from possible undiagnosed mental health issues. He was staying in a Greece hotel and rented the SUV at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport. The chief said there was no suicide note recovered during the search of the hotel room.
The person who owns that video says the time stamp on it is correct. That means there’s a 20-minute gap from the time the SUV leaves the parking lot and the crash.
The Rochester Police Department says it has the video and that is the SUV in the crash.