Rochester officials crack down on drug activity in North Clinton Avenue corridor

Mayor Malik Evans and Police Chief David Smith on Tuesday announced aggressive new public safety measures in Rochester’s North Clinton Avenue corridor, where open-air drug dealing, gun violence and neighborhood deterioration have intensified over the past several months.

Rochester Mayor Malik Evans and Police Chief David Smith held a press conference Wednesday to discuss "recent public safety actions" in the North Clinton Avenue corridor.

Speaking at a City Hall press conference, Evans said the situation in the corridor — particularly near Morrill and Oscar streets — had become untenable for residents. He described seeing people being dropped off from outside the city to buy drugs, then leaving behind needles, trash, and sometimes bullets.

“This corridor has been under siege,” Evans said. “People are treating this neighborhood like a drive-thru drug stop. That ends now.”

The city’s crackdown began in earnest following the June 22 fatal shooting of 29-year-old David Vazquez at a known drug house on Oscar Street. In that incident, a Rochester police officer was nearly killed when the suspect fired a gun at close range during an attempted arrest.

“An officer came inches from losing his life,” Smith said. “That was a turning point. We are done tolerating this.”

Since then, officers from the Clinton Section, the Community Affairs Bureau, and the Special Initiatives Unit have patrolled the corridor on foot and by bike, hosting community meetings and engaging directly with residents. Meanwhile, the Special Investigations Section and the Greater Rochester Area Narcotics Enforcement Team (GRANET) executed five search warrants, recovering both narcotics and firearms.

On Tuesday morning — just hours before the press conference — Rochester’s SWAT team executed a raid at 1072 N. Clinton Avenue, a boarded-up home that officials said was a central location for drug trafficking. Detectives recovered fentanyl, crack cocaine, and powder cocaine, all packaged for sale.

Two individuals — Jamie Statt of Webster and Stormy Watts, who provided a city address outside the affected neighborhood — were arrested and charged with third- and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, both felonies.

Just blocks away, police also dismantled what officials called a “festering open-air drug market” on a vacant lot on Morrill Street. That site, officials said, had recently been the scene of a carjacking, a gun arrest, shots fired, and several rubbish fires — all within a few hundred feet of family homes.

“The actual residents of Morrill Street do not deserve this,” the department said in a statement. “Today we took increased action to bring it to an end.”

Evans and Smith emphasized that many of those buying and selling drugs in the area are not from the neighborhood, and in some cases, not even from the city.

“The people fueling this problem aren’t the ones living with the consequences,” Evans said. “We are making it clear: this is over.”

The city is also working with partners across multiple agencies — including the Rochester Fire Department, Department of Environmental Services, the Law Department, the Northeast Safety Coalition, and the New York State Police — to enforce emergency closure orders, clean up affected areas, and support local businesses and families.

Smith praised the officers involved, noting that despite nearly losing one of their own, they remained committed to a holistic response that includes both enforcement and community engagement.

“We’re not done,” he said. “We will continue to listen, we will continue to act, and we will not rest until this corridor is safe — for the residents, the daycare across the street from the drug house, and the businesses that have been suffering far too long.”

Evans says they plan to target the Lyell Avenue area next.