Two charged following Saugerties road death

SAUGERTIES — Two people were arrested on manslaughter and assault charges — one of them a teenager — after an investigation into the death of a 66-year-old man who was found lying on an Ulster County roadside last fall, town police said.

Joseph E Karolys, 38, of Route 212 in Saugerties is charged with first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault, tampering with physical evidence and attempted bribing of a witness in connection with the Oct. 29 discovery of David “Mickey” Myer’s body on Route 32 in Centerville, Police Chief Joseph

Sinagra said in a statement.

A 17-year-old male, whose name was not provided, was charged with first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault and evidence tampering, Sinagra said.

Myer’s body was found that Saturday at about 7:30 a.m. after police got a 911 call reporting an unconscious and unresponsive person lying on the side of the state highway, south of a Citgo Mart.

After officers, Centerville Cedar Grove firefighters and paramedics from DIAZ Ambulance arrived, Myer was pronounced dead at the scene.

Saugerties detectives started an investigation into the cause of Myer’s death, requesting assistance from State Police BCI (Kingston), Major Crimes Unit (Middletown), Field Investigations Unit (Middletown), and the Ulster County district attorney’s office. The arrests were announced Wednesday.

Karolys was arraigned in Ulster County Court and sent to the Ulster County Jail without bail. The 17-year-old was arraigned in the youth part of Ulster County Court and sent to a youth detention facility on $250,000 bail.

The investigation is continuing and additional arrests are pending, police said. Police in their statement did not detail the circumstances surrounding Myer’s death or why they charged with the suspects with manslaughter and evidence tampering.

According to an obituary from Seamon-wilsey Funeral Home, Myer was a graduate of Saugerties High School Class of 1974 and the owner of the excavating company Foundation and Site Specialist, and noted as a skilled heavy equipment operator.

He lived on Peoples Road, which intersects with Route 32.