The State Troopers PBA would like to remind the public during this holiday week to drive safely, and to be cognizant of Troopers and all law enforcement officers who are involved in traffic stops along the side of the highway. One such example happened recently in Patterson, NY, where a Trooper was forced to jump out of the way of an erratic driver during a traffic stop recently. An article about the incident was printed in The Journal News, which is shown below. The PBA is thankful that Trooper Robert Lombardi was not severely injured in this incident.

Cops: Wild driver nearly runs over state trooper on I-84, crashes into Patterson swamp

By ROB RYSER
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: July 3, 2007)

PATTERSON – A wild driver forced a trooper writing a ticket on Interstate 84 to jump over the hood of his patrol car to avoid getting hit, police said. Then the driver wound up crashing into a swamp, police said.

Neither the trooper nor the driver was injured.

Witnesses, however, thought for sure the trooper had been struck and called 911 on their cell phones, police said.

Trooper Robert Lombardi had pulled over another vehicle about 6:30 p.m. Sunday on the shoulder of I-84 and left his car with the lights flashing, police said.

The trooper heard tires screeching and saw a car that had been speeding up the shoulder toward his cruiser swerve back onto the road to avoid hitting it.

In the process, the driver nearly hit Lombardi, who leaped to get out of the way, police said.

The driver continued east in and out of the traffic lanes before driving into the swamp area, police said.

Police charged the driver, Abraham Marin, 24, of Poughkeepsie, with first-degree reckless endangerment, a felony, and driving while ability impaired by drugs, a misdemeanor.

After showing police a forged INS card, Marin was also charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony.