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- A Wallkill man pled guilty to assaulting a conductor at the Port Jervis train station in 2023.
- The conductor sustained a broken jaw after telling Gulley and three others not to board the train after they ran across the tracks.
- Additionally, he pleaded guilty to a bail-jumping charge for fleeing the jurisdiction while the assault case was ongoing.
GOSHEN – A Wallkill man recently entered a guilty plea for his role in assaulting a conductor at the Port Jervis train station in 2023.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced that the defendant, Damarion Gulley, 24, from Wallkill, pled guilty last Thursday to both second-degree assault and second-degree bail-jumping, both classified as felonies.
According to Hoovler, the bail-jumping charge stemmed from Gulley allegedly fleeing from the jurisdiction of the Orange County Court while awaiting trial for the assault.
Documents filed in court and statements made confirm that on September 7, 2023, an MTA conductor at the Port Jervis train station saw Gulley and three others dashing across the tracks in front of an oncoming train.
Following this incident, the conductor denied the group access to the train.
Subsequently, Gulley and his companions allegedly followed the conductor off the train platform and attacked him, leading to a broken jaw for the conductor.
Investigators managed to track down Gulley and his co-defendant, Kamrin Deleon, 21, who has already pled guilty and is waiting for sentencing.
The other two individuals involved were juveniles, whose cases are being handled in Orange County Family Court due to their ages.
During the plea hearing, Gulley confessed to intent to inflict physical harm on the conductor and acknowledged causing injury while the conductor was executing his duties related to train operations.
Gulley also admitted to not appearing in court as required after being released on bail or his own recognizance, or voluntarily within the subsequent 30 days.
“It is unacceptable for a train conductor to be violently attacked simply for performing his job,” Hoovler stated in a press release. “Although the defendant attempted to evade responsibility by fleeing, law enforcement worked tirelessly to ensure he faced justice.”
Gulley was represented by the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, but a member of the organization was unavailable for comment at the time.
When Gulley is sentenced on May 8, Hoovler’s office plans to recommend a three-year state prison term for the assault charge, followed by three years of post-release supervision, along with one to three years for the bail-jumping charge, to be served consecutively.
Hoovler expressed that the sentence “should serve as a serious warning; we will not tolerate violence against train conductors.”
Mike Randall reports breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
