This morning the Hudson Police Department issued this press release. The subject of the press release was one of the three people charged with the robbery of the DoorDash driver reported earlier this week.
The Hudson Police Department has made an arrest in connection with the June 30, 2025 incident involving a reported gunshot and suspicious activity near Front Street and Warren Street.
In the early morning hours of Monday, June 30, 2025, Columbia County 911 received a report of a single gunshot heard in the vicinity of a local apartment complex. The call was transferred to the Hudson Police Department shortly before 1:00 AM. The caller reported seeing approximately five individuals in dark clothing engaging in a verbal altercation near a housing complex and a nearby business on North Front Street.
Responding officers canvassed the area but found no evidence of a firearm or injuries at that time. However, during a follow-up investigation the following day, Hudson Police recovered one (1) expended 9mm shell casing near Columbia and Front Streets. The incident is currently believed to have been a targeted act.
Arrest Information: On August 21, 2025, Jayden L. Morrison, 18, of Hudson, NY, was arrested pursuant to an active arrest warrant issued by the Hudson City Court. Morrison is charged with:
- Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree - Class C
- Felony Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree - Class D Felony
Hudson Police identified Morrison as the suspected shooter following a thorough criminal investigation. The arrest warrant was applied for and executed without incident. Morrison was located and taken into custody in Valatie, NY, in connection with an unrelated matter.
Additionally, Morrison was recently arrested by the Hudson Police Department in relation to a robbery involving a delivery driver.
He was arraigned before the Honorable Judge Connor in Hudson City Court and remanded to the Columbia County Jail on bail set at:
- $15,000 cash
- $25,000 secured bond
- $40,000 partially secured bond
Morrison was scheduled to return to court on August 26, 2025.
The Hudson Police Department continues to actively investigate this incident. Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Hudson Police Department at (518) 828-3388, or provide anonymous tips via the tip line at (518) 828-9900.
Two observations:
ReplyDelete1) Imagine if every Hudson City Department issued such clear and detailed press releases on significant events.
2) Curious if the Mayor of Hudson will comment on these two related events?
Not suggesting that it would be wise, merely noting that:
- he was very quick to comment on the potential of future ICE activity in Hudson. (ICE is a federal agency enforcing federal laws).
- he was very quick to comment on the alleged 3rd Street vandalism. He may have even beaten HPD to the scene of the alleged crime that morning?
~
In a well-run city, leadership would follow clear and consistent protocol for when and how to act, not improvise when politically convenient.
I am so over the extra focus on our black youth getting into trouble. Certainly, anyone who commits a crime is subjected to public ridicule and scrutiny and will end up in our police blotter. However, certain prominent blogs seem to relish at this kind of news when other infractions seem to go overlooked or swept under the carpet. This defines racial microaggressions and if you haven't heard of that terminology I ask you to look it up because it is alive and well here in Hudson. I just wish that our black youth got equal attention when it comes to fostering them, building them up, and praising their accomplishments. It takes a village.
ReplyDeleteI am well aware what a racial microaggression is. It's just that I see that term rarely used unironically.
DeleteThis particular post, which makes no reference to race anywhere - neither in the quoted HPD release nor in the bits that Carole added, is in fact the conclusion to a story arc that began with the mysterious shot fired and the recovered casing on Front St. I believe Gossips reported on that shortly after it had occurred.
It seems reasonable to me then to also report the conclusion of the whole story especially when it had in the meantime escalated to armed robbery. Surely, that is a newsworthy topic of general interest. Carole is in fact in lockstep with the reporting that the Register Star did which likewise featured two separate articles.
That said, you're alluding to "other infractions" that you write are not picked up by Carole. This blog is not my only source of information and I am not aware of other infractions that routinely get swept under the rug here.
She does a pretty good job of staying abreast of all the infractions originating in the mayor's office at least (not your office - the office one down from yours).
This story wasn’t plucked out of the police blotter amongst all the DUIs and trespassing. It was based on a HPD press release, which was also picked up by the Register Star. Nobody except you mentioned race, which would now seem to constitute an overt macro aggression.
DeleteIt's actually not based on an HPD press release; it IS an HPD press release.
DeleteJustin - we appreciate that you see yourself as a champion for some groups in Hudson, even (hopefully) all of Hudson.
DeleteAnd separately, Gossips can benefit from an even wider array of commenters so please do continue to share your thinking and thoughts here. Especially ADA news, since you see it all due to your ADA role.
The focus of our original comment was not, as you suggest, on "the youth," but on the _conduct_ of mayor Kamal as it relates to public statements on crime, while he is the sitting mayor and running for re-election.
On this thread, as other commenters pointed out, you were the first to mention race.
1) The core issue that we tried to point out:
A. There is a difference between minor (alleged) property crimes (vandalism on 3rd street) and (cleared by arrest) gun crime or armed robbery. Misdemeanors vs. Felonies. One focuses on restitution and the other can carry a jail sentence. Firing a weapon in a dense urban area is dangerous.
B. It is suboptimal that Mayor Kamal, your boss, is quick to comment on minor crimes (misdemeanors) and silent on major crimes (felonies). Since we pay both of your salaries we are disappointed and would like to see improvement.
A wise and experienced mayor would establish, in consultation with the Police Chief and potentially Council, a clear protocol of what types and levels of incidents would lead to a statement or commentary. And then stick to it. Tier 1 cities leave all this to the police and City Managers.
2) re: your comment "I just wish that our black youth got equal attention when it comes to fostering them, building them up, and praising their accomplishments. It takes a village."
First - let's consider youth of all races, genders, nationalities (birth places) and household religions. Hudson has families from all of those groups who live below and above the poverty line. It is unconstitutional to discriminate based on race and certainly to use public funds to benefit one racial group over another.
Second - HCSD spends more than $35k per student per year ($58m budget 2025-26 budget / 1600 students = $36.5k but let's round down to $35k. The Hudson Youth Center budget (public funds + Peter Frank's fundraising and lobbying) is approaching $1m (serving less than 100 youth per year, $10k per student? If 200 students served per year then $5k per student).
So City of Hudson residents spend approximately $40k plus per student per year, likely more, almost all paid for by taxpayers except Peter Frank's ~$200k of donations... some of which might come from non Hudson benefactors?
$40k per year per Hudson youth.
Then we have the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood ("cradle-to-career") project that receives significant public (state and federal?) funding, Spark of Hudson is now doing youth programming as well as subsidizing Nick Zachos' Build Hudson (which seeks to help and "train local young people"), Columbia County has a publicly funded youth program, and let's not forget about Kite's Nest's "liberatory education" and their forthcoming expansion. There are other groups raising and spending money on the same cause.
It seems that spending on youth in Hudson is going up. Employees (often unionized) serving the youth is going up. The number of fundraising galas and photo-ops are going up. The only thing that does not seem to be going up is student test scores (as measured buy objective State tests) and lifetime earnings.
At what point does this become a moral failure by the City of Hudson and HCSD's elected and appointed leaders?
That so many people, spend so much money, with so little to show for it?
3) The real micro-macro aggression is that police, candidates for office, and officials must spend extra time and money avoiding any slip, since charges of racism or other isms are always waiting. Many residents and leaders no longer dare speak the truth in public. When every criticism is branded racist, the word is emptied of meaning. At this point if you have not been called racist do you even live in Hudson?
DeleteNo wonder Greenporters and some Hudsonian's retreat to private invite-only Facebook groups where nativism lingers, or keep their commentary offline. Remember last week when you, Justin, referred to Lloyd as "half" a mayoral candidate when you celebrated Spear dropping out (after an imperfect analogy between NYC and Hudson mayoral races lead to a mini mob of non-residents and accusations of racism.
4) Question for you Justin:
More interesting is that you made a similar near carbon copy comment (to this Gossips comment) on Facebook yesterday. At roughly the same time.
What were the responses there? Does the difference in responses between Gossips and FB comments show political differences, attitudes towards the mayor, different communities, or differences in truth-seeking?
Why would you say, Justin, did your near identical comment receive unspecific praise on FB, and specific critique on Gossips?
Could that explain why Kamal is the so-called mayor of Facebook, yet not in the pages of the Gossips of Rivertown, and not the mayor chosen in the last Democratic primary by the majority of Hudson voters?
And finally...
DeleteDo you not see that residents may find it odd that you (a city employee paid by taxes) are questioning why residents (Gossips) are _republishing verbatim_ a PRESS RELEASE that was carefully written by HPD (paid by taxes) for distribution to residents.
So one part of Hudson government is paid to spread news that is legally public information, and another part of Hudson government then admonishes the spreading of the news, while elevating an issue (race) that was not present in the original HPD press release, or in the Gossips story.
Are you doing this because Mayor Kamal's new campaign posters trumpets "provided more public safety"?
Which is also odd because didn't Kamal try to defund HPD in his first term?
Justin, as the mayor’s amanuensis, is merely muddying the water on behalf of his principal by injecting race in to a discussion otherwise devoid of any comments or insinuations of race. As such, his pointless and out of context comment serves as a macro-aggression towards the sentient and those saddled with common sense.
ReplyDelete