Port Jervis police, fire crews search Delaware River after menacing arrest

Port Jervis police turned to firefighters and a drone Friday to search the Delaware River below the Mid-Delaware Bridge after a Thursday evening menacing incident in the Fourth Ward, looking for an item that investigators said may have been tied to the arrest.

Initial radio traffic described the object as a possible weapon, but Port Jervis police Sgt. Andrew Dillinger would not confirm that characterization. He said investigators were searching for something that might be connected to the earlier arrest, not making a public claim about what the item was.

The search focused on a stretch of river near Church Street Park, Seward Avenue and Hammond Streets, a dense residential pocket of the city where police activity is hard to miss. The Port Jervis Fire Department water operations crew worked below the bridge while police used a drone overhead, a combination that showed how quickly a local case can pull together specialized equipment and multiple agencies in a small-city response.

Officials did not say whether the item was recovered by the end of the search. That leaves open a key public-safety question for the Fourth Ward: whether the object, if found, could add to the menacing case or point investigators toward a larger confrontation.

The Port Jervis Police Department lists 57 personnel, including part-time civilian support staff, underscoring how central the department is to neighborhood-level enforcement in a compact city like Port Jervis. The fire department, which describes itself as an all-volunteer municipal department serving the city at the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink rivers in western Orange County, was available to support the search in a river corridor that can be difficult to work in even under normal conditions.

That stretch of the Delaware is also a flood-prone area. NOAA identifies the Port Jervis and Matamoras reach of the river as one where widespread flooding can affect Port Jervis, Matamoras and Montague Township when water rises significantly, making any search along the bank both operationally sensitive and logistically challenging.

The Fourth Ward has also been the scene of other serious police calls. In February, Port Jervis police announced the arrest of David Rombousek, 26, in connection with the fatal shooting on Hammond Street on Feb. 15, 2026. Officers also responded to shots fired at Barcelow Street and Seward Avenue in the Fourth Ward on Sept. 21, 2020. For residents along the river and the surrounding streets, Friday’s search was another reminder that a single arrest can quickly widen into a broader investigation when police believe evidence may be in the water.