MAMAKATING – It was on February 14, 1997 when State Trooper Nathaniel Burroughs was fatally injured while investigating a one-car accident on Route 17 on Wurtsboro Mountain in the Town of Mamakating during hazardous weather conditions.
Burroughs, a 10-year veteran of the force, had taken immediate steps to secure the safety of the lone occupant of a damaged vehicle by activation his emergency lights and protecting the scene with his troop car.
As Burroughs began interviewing the driver in front of the damaged car, a tractor-trailer skidded off the ice-covered road, into the police car and forced it into the initial car, which hit the two men.
Both men were thrown considerable distance. Trooper Burroughs died from his injuries a short time later at Horton Memorial Hospital.
The trooper was assigned to the Wurtsboro barracks of Troop F at the time of his death.
