Trooper Death Is Detailed in New Report

Trooper Death Is Detailed in New Report
By FERNANDA SANTOS
Published: July 28, 2008

At 7:28 a.m. on April 25, 2007, in a quiet corner of the Catskill Mountains, an indoor motion alarm went off at a vacant farmhouse, a half-mile from where a van driven by a suspect in the shooting of a New York State trooper the previous day had been found abandoned.

The alarm unleashed a chain of events that culminated in a fierce shootout involving an elite team of state troopers, known at the time as mobile response teams. In the two-minute gun battle, during which more than 80 bullets were fired, two men lost their lives: the suspect, Travis D. Trim, and one of the troopers, David C. Brinkerhoff.

Within a few days, State Police officials revealed that Trooper Brinkerhoff had killed Mr. Trim, a 23-year-old college dropout from North Lawrence, N.Y., and was then killed by a shot from a colleague.

The death of Trooper Brinkerhoff, 29, raised questions about the quality of the unit’s training, the tactics its members used in the farmhouse that morning and the conduct of the trooper who fired the fatal round. Meanwhile, State Police investigators remained tight-lipped as they tried to determine if negligence or other criminal behavior contributed in any way to Mr. Brinkerhoff’s death.

Fifteen months later, the first official account of what transpired at the farmhouse has emerged. An internal State Police report, obtained by The New York Times under a Freedom of Information request, reveals that Trooper Brinkerhoff may have unknowingly placed himself in the line of fire when he raised his head just as a colleague standing behind him fired a shot at Mr. Trim.

In the previous 14 months, six troopers had died, including two who were shot in 2006 by a fugitive, Ralph L. Phillips — known as Bucky — whom Trooper Brinkerhoff had helped track.

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