By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
Part-time Liverpool police officer Peter J. Rauch was arrested March 21 by Syracuse police, after he allegedly fled the scene of a fatal car-pedestrian accident on the city’s North Side earlier that morning.
Shortly after midnight, Syracuse teenager Seth Collier had finished his Monday night shift at Burger King, 104 Elwood Davis Road at Seventh North Street, and was walking to his home in the city. At about 1:30 p.m. he was hit by a car on North Salina Street near Bear Street. The 2010 Chevrolet Impala which Rauch had been driving was later found damaged and abandoned in the parking lot of the Pastime Athletic Club, 1314 N. Salina St.
Rauch, who also worked as a process server and investigator with the Onondaga County District Attorney’s office, has an apartment on Kirkpatrick Street, some five blocks from the Pastime. When he was arrested at his mother’s home in the Liverpool area some eight hours after the accident, Rauch was charged with leaving the scene of a serious personal-injury accident.
After Collier died two days later, however, the charge was upgraded to leaving the scene of a fatal accident, a Class D felony. Such felonies carry a possible maximum of two and a third to seven years in state prison, but the minimum sentence may not require any incarceration.
Rauch was sent back to jail on $50,000 cash or $100,000 bond after his March 24 arraignment by City Court Judge Ross Andrews, but was released after bail was raised that afternoon.
That same day, the 37-year-old Rauch was fired from his job in Liverpool. He had already been fired from the DA’s office on March 21 for failing to report he’d had an accident while driving a county-owned vehicle.
Liverpool Police Chief Don Morris had suspended Rauch on March 21, but after receiving investigative reports from the Syracuse Police Department he fired the part-timer. “Peter Rauch was terminated from the Liverpool Police Department on March 24, 2017,” Morris said. “The termination occurred upon the receipt of documents and is consistent with New York State Civil Service Law.”
Rauch made $46,064 working for the DA’s office in 2016 and earned $7,739 working part-time for the LPD, according to See Through New York, an online database of public employee salaries.
After attending the Mohawk Valley Police Academy from Sept. 10, 2012, through March 1, 2013, he received Division of Criminal Justice Services certification for the basic course for police officer, Morris said. Rauch was appointed to the LPD on Aug. 27, 2014.
Onondaga County DA Bill Fitzpatrick called Rauch’s alleged behavior “a betrayal,” and called upon Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes to serve as special prosecutor in the case. Rauch is represented by prominent Syracuse defense attorney Emil Rossi.
Syracuse police continue to investigate the involvement of Rauch’s two companions that night, Syracuse firefighter Edward “Ted” Ackerman and Buffalo pharmaceutical salesman Benjamin Mahshie. Ackerman, who was suspended without pay from the Syracuse Fire Department on March 21, is president of the Pastime Athletic Club.
Ackerman was reportedly following Rauch’s Chevy as it drove south on North Salina Street prior to the accident. Police say Mahshie, 43, was a passenger in the Impala. Mahshie’s and Rauch’s parents both live on Branchwood Drive in Liverpool.
WSYR-TV 9 reported on March 22 that Rauch had been drinking beer at Singers Karaoke Club on Milton Avenue in Solvay in the hours preceding the accident.
Collier, 18, died Thursday afternoon, March 23 after suffering a cranial hemorrhage and a puncture wound to his right hamstring from the impact of the collision, according to a felony complaint filed in Syracuse City Court March 22.
Funeral services were scheduled for noon on Tuesday, March 28, at the Thomas J. Pirro Jr. Funeral Home, 3401 Vickery Road in North Syracuse.
Controversy followed Rauch
Last week’s fatal automobile accident wasn’t the first time Pete Rauch’s name was in the news.
Back in 2006, Rauch was charged with a felony after being accused of pulling a gun in a university-area tavern, but the charge was later dropped.
In 2014, Rauch joined the Syracuse-area Drug Enforcement Administration task force, but his appointment drew complaints from Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler, who contended that Rauch’s inexperience posed a danger to other officers, and as a DA employee, he was armed and had access to secure radio channels.
“He could compromise Syracuse police investigations and operations,” Fowler wrote in an October 2013 letter to the county’s commissioner of personnel.
Rauch’s presence on the DEA task force prompted Syracuse police to end its involvement with the agency. Rauch dropped out of the task force in December.
Drew gun in L’pool incident
On the other hand, Rauch was well-liked by his fellow Liverpool police officers. On Sept. 9, 2014, two weeks after he joined the LPD, Rauch helped subdue a disturbed man threatening to “take out a Liverpool cop.” The man, who appeared to be armed, approached the police station on Sycamore Street, where he was confronted by Rauch, a part-time officer, then-Sgt. Mike Manns and part-time officers Fred Brough.
All three officers drew their guns — a rarity for small-town cops — and Brough shined a flashlight at the man while Rauch took a position behind a car parked on the street. Manns negotiated with the suspect and eventually brought him down with a Taser.
“Everybody showed incredible restraint,” Manns said at the time. “Fred’s a seasoned cop. Like me, he’d worked for 20 years in the city [of Syracuse]. And even though Pete is still in training — he’s a district attorney office investigator and this is his first job as a street cop — he handled the situation like a seasoned pro, doing everything by the book. I’m recommending him for a commendation.”
