A truck driver has been sentenced to prison following a shooting incident on the New York State Thruway in the summer of 2024.
On February 3, 2025, Dylan J. Cottingham, 26, of Sullivan, Ohio, was sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison followed by 2 ½ years of post-release supervision, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office.
In December 2024, Cottingham pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (Class “C” violent felony) and one count of Reckless Endangerment in the First Degree (Class “D” felony).
Cottingham was initially charged with Attempted Murder.
The charges were issued following an incident that occurred on July 29, 2024, on I-90 in the Town of Newstead, New York.
Officials say that Cottingham was behind the wheel of a semi truck when he fired multiple rounds into a second semi truck as both vehicles were westbound on I-90.
The victim’s truck was occupied by a female operator, a female passenger, and a 10-year female child who was asleep in the sleeper cab of the truck. None of the truck occupants were hurt, but New York State Police (NYSP) located one a bullet hole in the sleeper berth “within a very close proximity of the sleeping child.”
When Cottingham was located by NYSP shortly after the shooting incident, they discovered a loaded pistol in his vehicle.
“While the defendant had a licensed pistol permit in Ohio, he was not permitted to carry the handgun in New York State,” the Erie County District Attorney’s Office said.