New York Trooper Shot in Manhunt Dies of Injuries

NY Times ^ | September 4, 2006 | DAVID STABA and JENNIFER 8. LEE

[neverdem]

FREDONIA, N.Y., Sept. 3 — Three days after he was ambushed during a hunt for a notorious fugitive, a New York State trooper died on Sunday from a bullet wound despite efforts to save his life by amputating his leg.

The trooper, Joseph Longobardo, 32, of Middle Grove in upstate New York, became the first fatality connected to the search for Ralph Phillips in the five months that he has been on the run. Mr. Phillips — who is widely known by his nickname, Bucky — also is accused of shooting two other troopers, including one who remained in a medically induced coma.

Trooper Longobardo had lost large amounts of blood because a bullet, which entered his leg, severed an artery. He was flown immediately after the shooting to Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo, where doctors induced a coma. They amputated his leg on Saturday. He never regained consciousness after the shooting.

At a news conference here on Sunday evening, Superintendent Wayne Bennett, head of the state police, said: “He was your advocate, he was our trooper. Don’t ever forget it, please.”

The other trooper who was shot on Thursday night, Donald Baker Jr., 38, on Sunday had surgery for a third time and was in serious condition at Hamot Medical Center in Erie, Pa. He was shot in the side, with the bullet exiting his body.

Both troopers were stationed in Albany as part of the state’s elite mobile response team and had been called to western New York to help search for Mr. Phillips.

Trooper Longobardo, who had been on the force for almost eight years, was married and the father of a baby boy who had his first birthday a few weeks ago. The couple’s wedding anniversary would have been this Thursday.

His neighbors were stunned...

[Gabz]

This is the fourth Trooper this year we have buried.

That's four too many.

May the bastard who did it rot in hell.