OSINT: Let's Try to Find The Guy Who Almost Killed My Dad

Here's what I know:

Bad news: I am going to be without a car for the indefinite future.

Good news: My dad and older brother are okay. Everyone is fine.

This is what happened, and I'll let you know what this has to do with Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) in just a minute.

I'm the caregiver for three disabled adults, including my dad, who is near eighty. Yesterday, my dad was on his way to drop off a urine sample for my mom at Middletown Medical over in the Village of Chester.

Yes, the Chester you read about in the national news with the concentration camp.

(You can read the latest on that whole situation here.)

I mention this detail about the urine only because my Dad thought it was incredibly funny. "I thought I was going to die. Before we crashed, I thought, 'I'm going to die with my wife's urine in my coat pocket. What are the cops going to think?"

At about 10:22 a.m. on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, just after the Blooming Grove exit (128) on Route 17 West, a big black box went on a spontaneous and unexpected adventure.

The "black box" — I don't know if it's an actual black box; that's just how my older brother, Brad, who is mentally disabled, described it to me. Brad was in the passenger seat during this accident. He likes going for car rides, so we oblige him as much as we can.

The "black box" flew up from the bed of a pickup truck (we don't know the color or make and model of the truck) and crashed into the windshield of my car / dad's car. The pickup truck continued on its merry way. The now deceased red Subaru Impreza spun around, what my dad described as "several times," and crashed into a snowbank.

Lucky for us, Chester had just received about two feet of snow. I think it was reported at eighteen inches. I don't know; I just know the snow was so high that we couldn't open the mailbox. I also know the mailman was pissed and wouldn't deliver the mail until we dug that out. So we did. Without all that snow, my brother and father would have absolutely been dead.

My dad, remember he's almost eighty, got out and then somehow fell waste-deep into the snow and couldn't get out. Someone was kind enough to pull over — and mind you, this is a busy highway and one that people for nearly forty years have been demanding a third lane for — which is stupid because if you just add a lane, you're going to add more cars. The actual solution is to take all the CSX train tracks in New York State and start running passenger rail again. God damn. Don't get me started about how stupid elected officials are because this tangent will just keep going.

Anyway. That someone helped my dad out of the snow and checked on my brother. They were both okay, just a little shaken up. The State Police then came and took all of the information down. The pickup truck with the big black box just kept on driving. A tow truck had to come and recover Dad's car / my car because it was totaled. When the car arrived at Apple Autobody, that's what they told him.

Goodbye, car. I liked driving you. My experience with Subarus, and the fact that they are the only North American car manufacturer who applies California's Consumer Privacy Act to every American customer is why I always recommend them to people.

So what does this have to do with OSINT?

For the last three years or so, I really struggled with how to teach people OSINT.

First, it's boring.

Second, it's super creepy how much information you can get with what's out there on the Internet.

And third, if you're going to do it right, there are some technical steps you need to take. They're not hard, but that's me saying it. I'm a pro.

Go ahead and walk up to the kindly little old lady who wants to speak up on behalf of her Haitian neighbors in Spring Valley. The one trying to figure out how to use Signal for the first time. (Yes. You should absolutely still be using Signal.)

I promise you, telling her to "Go ahead and set up a virtual machine on your Mac" is going to give that woman a stroke.

So, in the words of a middle school student I (very briefly) taught at William Hacket Middle School, "What do?"

What do indeed.

Well, that takes us back to my dad's car accident. You see, if I were to teach someone OSINT, the first thing I would do is tell them to put in a Freedom of Information Law request (that's what it's called in NY; your state or nation may have different names) for all the traffic cameras.

The Blooming Grove exit is not too far from an area that is absolutely riddled with cameras because of the intersection of a federal interstate highway (I-87), a major multibillion-dollar tourist attraction (Woodbury Common), and three schools (Monroe-Woodbury Senior High School is the insane asylum-looking building across the street from Woodbury Common. I was part of the first group of students to be in that building.)

So, the odds are good the pickup truck with the black box was captured and so was its license plate. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation to my dad, you can always ask for traffic camera footage from the New York State DOT (or its equivalent in your area) and any additional regional transportation agency, in this case, the New York State Thruway Authority.

In New York State, you'd be amazed at what you can get through FOIL.

I'm going to show you what I submitted with the hopes that in doing so, I just taught you a little something about OSINT, which is that there's a lot of public information out there, and it can be really helpful.

Not just to catch the person who almost killed your dad, but because documentation is important in combating authoritarianism.

For example, the regime got away with calling Marimar Martinez, an American citizen, a "domestic terrorist" after attempting to murder her (twice) because there was no footage that anyone was aware of to disprove the claims of DHS / ICE.

But when the regime tried calling Alex Pretti a "domestic terrorist," they weren't successful because there was footage everywhere to disprove their claims.

So remember: Document everything. Every chance you get.

Yes, there's a major privacy issue we need to deal with involving how accessible some of these files are, but for right now, in this moment, we are going to set that aside and fight the battle at hand through peaceful, non-violent means; and using your camera is one of the best means to do so.

This is also a way to say, if there are cameras all over where you live, or where you drive, or where you spend your life, the odds are good you can get that footage in one way, shape, or form (legal or otherwise.)

That's what I want to do here in this story. If there are traffic cameras, let's put them to good use and catch this guy.

What I sent to the DOT and Thruway Authority is exactly the same. It says:

Subject: FOIL Request For All Available Camera Footage 2/3/26 10am-11am

Submitted via GOVQA

To Whom It May Concern,

I am requesting the following responsive records:

Records created on February 3, 2026 and only from February 3, 2026: All available traffic camera and other available camera footage between the hours of 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. between Harriman Exit 16 on I-87 Northbound toll plaza and all available traffic camera and other related video footage between the Harriman Toll Plaza and Exit 126 on Route 17 heading westbound.

We are looking for a pickup truck that had a large black box object escape the bed of its truck and smash into the windshield of a 2015 red Subaru Impreza, causing an accident just after Exit 128 on Route 17 West in the Town of Blooming Grove.

I did a series a while ago on how to write and send a FOIL. I'm thinking it's time for an update to put here, so that it never goes behind a paywall. So I'll put that together soon.

For now, I just wanted to point out that I said specifically what the records were (traffic camera and other available camera footage), when the record would be found (February 3, 2026, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.), and I always include rationale.

Our attorney has told me multiple times that the rationale doesn't need to be there, but I like putting it there because I know a human or several humans are going to have to process this FOIL request. She's right though. Don't include it in yours.

Over the next few weeks/months — I don't know yet — I'll let you know about OSINT tactics that I'm going to explore and try to use to find out who this person is who almost killed my Dad and Brother.

Because now, hopefully, if I did my job right, you're emotionally invested in the story (Who tried to kill my dad and brother?) and you're interested in what would otherwise be a huge slog to talk about and teach, which are all the different OSINT tools out there that you can use to protect yourself from fascists and weirdos.

We'll also be looking into some other OSINT related stories in my area, but I'll tell you about this when the time comes. We're going to be busy when that concentration camp opens at 29 Elizabeth Drive in the Village of Chester, I suspect.

-BJ