"The wife of slain New York State Trooper David Brinkerhoff, who was killed
in a blazing shootout in a Catskills farmhouse in April 2007, has filed a
lawsuit against St. Lawrence County, N.Y., and its probation department,
alleging that their negligence and lack of protocol allowed a serial probation
violator to break the terms of his supervised release and later initiate the gun
battle that cost Trooper Brinkerhoff his life.

"Barbara Brinkerhoff, widow of Trooper Brinkerhoff, alleges that the
man at the center of the shootout– a 23-year-old convicted thief with a history
of probation violations named Travis Trim – should not have been out of jail but
for a series of bungled actions by the St. Lawrence Probation Department.
Defendants include the director of the department as well as the officer
assigned to Mr. Trim.

"According to the complaint, Mr. Trim was first assigned a St. Lawrence
County probation officer in July 2005 after an arrest for larceny.
He repeatedly failed to maintain his supervised probation in the final months of
2006. Mrs. Brinkerhoff alleges that multiple lapses within the St.
Lawrence County Probation Department not only allowed him to remain free, but
also ensured that no New York law enforcement agencies were even aware that a
warrant had been issued for his arrest.

"According to the complaint, the warrant issued by a Canton, NY village
justice in December 2006 and sent to the Probation Department was – incredibly –
destroyed in a shredder upon receipt.

"Four months later, Mr. Trim was stopped by a New York State Trooper on
a road near Margaretville, the vehicle he was driving without a license
plate turned out to be stolen. He fired at the trooper, hitting his
protective vest, then took refuge in a nearby farmhouse. A swarm of state
police, alerted by a silent alarm that went off at the house, surrounded it the
next morning and went inside.

"Searching room to room, they found handguns and shotguns Mr. Trim had
brought with him. A furious gun battle ensued, during which one state trooper,
Richard Mattson, suffered a debilitating hand wound that forced him to take
disability retirement. Trooper Brinkerhoff then shot and killed Mr. Trim. In
almost the next instant, he was mistakenly shot from behind by a fellow trooper
and died."

posted by vt.Buzz  |  1:26 PM |