Two people from Massena are facing a long list of felony charges after a nearly hour-long police pursuit on Interstate 87 that ended with State Police seizing more than 500 pounds of cannabis and several damaged cruisers. Troopers identified the driver as 39-year-old Torrey R. Jackson and the passenger as 29-year-old Tori L. Rushlow; both now face multiple felony counts. Two troopers sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the incident, according to authorities.
The pursuit kicked off in Queensbury in the mid-afternoon when troopers tried to stop the vehicle just north of Exit 18 and the driver took off instead, later weaving off the highway through residential streets and fields before heading back to the Northway, according to reporting by the Times Union. Troopers say the car then traveled the wrong way on I-87 and struck a marked State Police cruiser before officers set up a temporary roadblock near Exit 15 to bring the chase to a halt.
During the chase, the passenger allegedly tossed vacuum-sealed garbage bags of cannabis out of the vehicle and into traffic, and troopers later recovered additional bags inside the car, bringing the total seizure to more than 500 pounds, as reported by NewYork Upstate. The vehicle eventually stopped in a median and both occupants tried to run before being taken into custody while, police say, actively resisting arrest.
Jackson was charged with a slate of counts including attempted aggravated assault on a police officer, criminal possession of cannabis in the first degree, and multiple assault and tampering counts; Rushlow faces similar felony charges, officials say. Both were arraigned in Wilton Town Court and remanded to the Saratoga County Correctional Facility without bail, per the Times Union.
Legal stakes for a 500-pound load
New York law ramps up penalties by weight: under Penal Law Article 222, possession of more than 10 pounds of cannabis (or more than 4 pounds of concentrated cannabis) is criminal possession in the first degree, a Class D felony. That statutory ladder puts a 500-pound seizure firmly in trafficking territory and exposes defendants to the state’s harsher penalties, as outlined in the bill text of Article 222 on the New York State Senate. Local reporters and TV legal analysts have also been breaking down how quickly possession thresholds move from noncriminal violations to felonies in recent coverage by News10 ABC.
Enforcement patterns in the North Country
Large seizures have become a focus of coordinated federal, state and local work in the region: a federal-led operation in May targeted unlicensed cannabis retailers in Massena and resulted in the seizure of more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana and related products, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported. That May action underscores how federal and state authorities have been tracking unregulated supply chains that can feed illicit markets, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
The case from the Northway chase remains under active investigation by State Police and will be prosecuted in Saratoga County; further filings and court dates are expected as troopers and prosecutors sort evidence from the vehicle and roadway recoveries.
