Suspect Also Slain
'Friendly Fire' Kills Trooper in Shootout

By REUVEN BLAU

State Trooper David C. Brinkerhoff was accidentally fatally shot by a colleague April 25 during a gun battle inside a farmhouse in the Catskills with a suspect who had shot a trooper during a traffic stop the day before.

DAVID C. BRINKERHOFF

According to authorities, the incident occurred after four Troopers confronted the suspect, Travis D. Trim, who had broken into the empty house to hide out after shooting Trooper Matthew Gombosi in the chest. Officer Gombosi's bulletproof vest blocked the shot.

Suspect Shot Him First

In the farmhouse, Trooper Brinkerhoff, who was 29 and had a 7-month-old daughter, was initially hit in the chest by Mr. Trim's shot from a small-caliber handgun, police said. The three Troopers behind him then opened fire at Mr. Trim, who used his rifle to shoot Trooper Richard Mattson in the arm. But one of their bullets accidentally struck Officer Brinkerhoff in the back of the head.

"Our Troopers were working in an extremely hostile, volatile situation," said Daniel M. De Federicis, president of the New York State Troopers Police Benevolent Association. "They were facing a desperate, barricaded gunman who had shown through his actions the previous day and that morning that he had no respect for law enforcement, and was obviously determined not to give up without a fight."

DANIEL De FEDERICIS: Mourns 'tragic accident.'

Mr. De Federicis stressed that the officers did their best to apprehend the gunman "so that he would not harm anybody else." He called Officer Brinkerhoff's death a "tragic accident, and a terribly unfortunate result of the chaotic events."

Following the shootout, officers surrounded the house and fired tear gas inside. But investigators believe that Mr. Trim was killed during the initial confrontation, and not following the nine-hour standoff, which concluded in a fire that destroyed the farmhouse after a tear gas round hit a bed.

Trooper Brinkerhoff, who joined the department in 1999, was a member of the agency's elite Mobil Response Team. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and daughter, Isabella. His funeral will be held on May 2 at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 85 Elm Ave., Delmar, N.Y.