Beacon's Fire Chief Luccesi Receives Honor For Stopping Wrong-Way Car On I-84; Recounts Incident In His Own Words
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During the December 15, 2025 City Council Meeting, the last of the year, Mayor Lee Kyriacou formally honored City of Beacon Fire Chief Thomas Luccesi for his heroic effort in stopping an elderly woman from continuing to drive the wrong way down the fast lane of I-84 the morning of October 31st at 8:30am. "My wife makes fun of me," Chief Luccesi said as he began recounting the event to the City Council after accepting his plaque, "I guess you can't take the cop out of me sometimes."
Before presenting him with the plaque, Mayor Kyriacou said: "You did a pretty amazing thing. The fact that you were in the area at just the right moment is absolutely incredible...Amazingly, you somehow managed to get in front of that person and then get them off the road without anyone being injured or killed or even an accident, which is pretty amazing. And done on Halloween, let alone," Mayor Kyriacou said before presenting Chief Luccesi with the plaque.
In a press release issued by the City of Beacon the day of the incident, Chief Luccesi was quoted as saying: "It’s not often that my heart drops and my adrenaline spikes outside of a fire scene,” Chief Lucchesi said. “As I rounded a curve, I suddenly saw a car coming straight at me. Vehicles were swerving everywhere to avoid her.”
After accepting his honor this week at City Council, with City of Beacon Firefighters and his wife and children sitting behind him, Chief Luccesi told the story of how he managed to stop the driver from continuing driving the wrong way:
"I was returning from dropping off one of our members to pick up one of our apparatus that was out of service.
“I ended up going in front of her, figuring that either she’ll hit me or she’ll, you know, stop on her own. ”
"I went to I-84; turned a podcast on. I was sort of zoned out - not really paying attention - you know - just driving down the road. I look up and there's a car coming at me in the left hand lane - in the fast lane.
"Cars were diving all over trying to get out of her way. I swerved out of the way. She passed me. As she drove by, I saw an elderly woman who just looked like she was out for a Sunday drive.
"I spun around real quick." From the press release, Chief Luccesi also turned on his emergency lights and siren. "As I spun around, there was nothing but what looked like smoke and I was really nervous that I thought she got in an accident. Ended up being tractor trailers locking their brakes up trying to get out of her way.
"It took probably a minute or two to catch up to her, and she was just still driving in the left-hand lane. I ended up going in front of her, figuring that either she'll hit me or she'll, you know, stop on her own. And luckily she stopped and she said she she made a wrong turn.
"Fortunately, no one got hurt." Then Chief Luccesi motioned to the City of Beacon Firefighters sitting behind him. "Any one of these guys here would have done the same exact thing, same circumstance. So I appreciate it very much. Thank you."
On the day of the incident, Mayor Kyriacou thanked the Chief, saying: "The Chief’s quick thinking and courageous action likely saved one or more lives today, and the City of Beacon is fortunate to have a Fire Chief who always goes above and beyond to help others. Job well, done, Chief Lucchesi."
