N.Y. state trooper shot; saved by body armor
Trooper shot during traffic stop
The Associated Press
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MARGARETVILLE, N.Y. — A state trooper was shot in the chest Tuesday in a town on the edge of Catskill Park, but his body armor saved him from serious injury, authorities said.
The trooper, who was not identified, was shot with a small handgun at about 3:15 p.m. in Margaretville. The circumstances leading up to the attack were not immediately clear, said Lt. Glenn Miner, a state police spokesman.
The trooper was not seriously hurt and is helping look for the suspect, said state police in Kirkwood.
Police agencies across the Southern Tier were alerted to the shooting and began searching for a white man described as 5-foot-11, about 23 years old with brown hair, blue eyes, and last seen wearing a torn flannel shirt, an eyebrow ring and a ball cap, Miner said.
Troopers said the suspect was seen driving north on Route 30 in a maroon Dodge Caravan with New York license plate DFL-8304. The car has no front license plate and one different front quarter panel, possibly painted gray.
The injured trooper is assigned to Troop C in Margaretville, a Delaware County town about 65 miles southwest of Albany.
The shooting follows a hard year for state police. Three troopers were shot — one fatally — last year by fugitive Ralph "Bucky" Phillips before the jail escapee was captured in September. Another trooper was gunned down by a bank robber in March near Elmira.
Also, one trooper died last April near Syracuse after crashing his vehicle while chasing a speeding motorcyclist and another, a Marine Corps captain, was killed in August while on foot patrol in Fallujah, Iraq.
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