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http://www.leaderherald.com/news/articles.asp?articleID=4911
Sad news, I had heard about the troopers death but had no idea it was a former classmate and friend until they said who it was.. My brother sent this to me... I knew Joe all through HS he was in auto shop and I was next door in metal shop. We worked on the same produce farm (Pines) one summer and had many tomato and green bean fights.. I'm very sad and I'm still not sure what to say......
Trooper dies from wound
By Staff and wire reports
CASSADAGA - One of two troopers ambushed while searching for an escaped convict who once promised to ‘‘splatter pig meat’’ all over, died Sunday of his injuries, state police said.
Joseph Longobardo, a former Amsterdam resident who had worked out of the Mayfield and Fonda state police barracks before transferring to Wilton, was shot in the leg Thursday night while staking out the property of a former girlfriend of Ralph ‘‘Bucky’’ Phillips.
The announcement of his death came in the midst of one of the largest manhunts in New York history. State police warn that Phillips, who has been on the run for five months, could hurt anyone who gets in his way.
Longobardo, 32, died at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo with his wife at his side, state police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said. Longobardo’s leg had been amputated Saturday after suffering severe blood loss, police said.
Troopers held a candlelight vigil Sunday for Longobardo and Donald Baker Jr., the other trooper shot in the woods of Chautauqua County. Baker, who was shot in the back, remained in critical condition in a medically induced coma, police said.
Longobardo is a former resident of the city of Amsterdam, said Amsterdam Supervisor Thomas DiMezza, who is also a detective lieutenant with the Amsterdam Police Department. DiMezza said Longobardo attended Amsterdam High School. He said he had worked with Longobardo on some investigations, including drug raids.
Longobardo spent most of his eight-year career working out of the trooper barracks in Fonda and Mayfield before transferring to the barracks in Wilton, Saratoga County, state police spokeswoman Maureen Tuffey said. He was a member of Troop G, which runs from Albany to Lake George, and was part of the Mobile Response Team looking for Phillips.
Tuffey said Longobardo was an active member of the Air National Guard in Scotia who graduated from trooper academy in November 1998. She said he has a year-old child.
State police warn Phillips, who has been on the run for five months, could hurt anyone who gets in his way.
The manhunt has reached a size not seen in New York since 1973, when hundreds of troopers scoured the Adirondacks region for murderer and serial rapist Robert Garrow. Also a veteran outdoorsman, he outran police in the wilderness for 11 days.
But Phillips, 44, has been on the run much longer. Saturday marked five months since he cut his way out of an Erie County jail with a can opener. Since then, he has been suspected in the shooting of another trooper in June near Elmira in southern New York, and police said he has survived on the run by stealing about 15 vehicles and breaking into hunting camps and a gun shop.
Some residents here in his native Chautauqua County once took the hunt for Phillips playfully, offering ‘‘Bucky Burgers’’ and ‘‘Where’s Bucky?’’ T-shirts for sale. With Thursday’s shootings, that started to change.
Now, ‘‘I think even his buddies will turn (on) him,’’ resident Jackie Terrill told The Buffalo News. ‘‘We’re not a bunch of idiots out here.’’
State police were hoping a new $225,000 reward for help in Phillips’ capture would inspire residents to come forward. Six local people have been arrested in recent days and charged with harboring Phillips, including his daughter and former girlfriend.
State police Saturday said Phillips is a threat, and not just to law enforcement.
‘‘He’s a desperate man, he knows he’s wanted and his choices are running out,’’ Gibbons said. ‘‘If someone in the community comes between him and his freedom, it is our feeling that he will become desperate and possibly hurt them.’’
State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett has said police are not looking for a shootout.
‘‘That’s not the way we want this to end,’’ he said.
But friends of Phillips have said a shootout is exactly what he wants.
They said Phillips was infuriated after police arrested his former girlfriend, Kasey Crowe, and his 23-year-old daughter, Patrina Wright, Aug. 24 and removed Wright’s three children — the youngest 3 weeks old — from her custody for a week. The children were returned to Wright’s custody Thursday.
‘‘We are caught in the middle, though, and my kids were used to bring him out,’’ Wright said Saturday by phone.
Sad news, I had heard about the troopers death but had no idea it was a former classmate and friend until they said who it was.. My brother sent this to me... I knew Joe all through HS he was in auto shop and I was next door in metal shop. We worked on the same produce farm (Pines) one summer and had many tomato and green bean fights.. I'm very sad and I'm still not sure what to say......
Trooper dies from wound
By Staff and wire reports
CASSADAGA - One of two troopers ambushed while searching for an escaped convict who once promised to ‘‘splatter pig meat’’ all over, died Sunday of his injuries, state police said.
Joseph Longobardo, a former Amsterdam resident who had worked out of the Mayfield and Fonda state police barracks before transferring to Wilton, was shot in the leg Thursday night while staking out the property of a former girlfriend of Ralph ‘‘Bucky’’ Phillips.
The announcement of his death came in the midst of one of the largest manhunts in New York history. State police warn that Phillips, who has been on the run for five months, could hurt anyone who gets in his way.
Longobardo, 32, died at Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo with his wife at his side, state police Superintendent Wayne Bennett said. Longobardo’s leg had been amputated Saturday after suffering severe blood loss, police said.
Troopers held a candlelight vigil Sunday for Longobardo and Donald Baker Jr., the other trooper shot in the woods of Chautauqua County. Baker, who was shot in the back, remained in critical condition in a medically induced coma, police said.
Longobardo is a former resident of the city of Amsterdam, said Amsterdam Supervisor Thomas DiMezza, who is also a detective lieutenant with the Amsterdam Police Department. DiMezza said Longobardo attended Amsterdam High School. He said he had worked with Longobardo on some investigations, including drug raids.
Longobardo spent most of his eight-year career working out of the trooper barracks in Fonda and Mayfield before transferring to the barracks in Wilton, Saratoga County, state police spokeswoman Maureen Tuffey said. He was a member of Troop G, which runs from Albany to Lake George, and was part of the Mobile Response Team looking for Phillips.
Tuffey said Longobardo was an active member of the Air National Guard in Scotia who graduated from trooper academy in November 1998. She said he has a year-old child.
State police warn Phillips, who has been on the run for five months, could hurt anyone who gets in his way.
The manhunt has reached a size not seen in New York since 1973, when hundreds of troopers scoured the Adirondacks region for murderer and serial rapist Robert Garrow. Also a veteran outdoorsman, he outran police in the wilderness for 11 days.
But Phillips, 44, has been on the run much longer. Saturday marked five months since he cut his way out of an Erie County jail with a can opener. Since then, he has been suspected in the shooting of another trooper in June near Elmira in southern New York, and police said he has survived on the run by stealing about 15 vehicles and breaking into hunting camps and a gun shop.
Some residents here in his native Chautauqua County once took the hunt for Phillips playfully, offering ‘‘Bucky Burgers’’ and ‘‘Where’s Bucky?’’ T-shirts for sale. With Thursday’s shootings, that started to change.
Now, ‘‘I think even his buddies will turn (on) him,’’ resident Jackie Terrill told The Buffalo News. ‘‘We’re not a bunch of idiots out here.’’
State police were hoping a new $225,000 reward for help in Phillips’ capture would inspire residents to come forward. Six local people have been arrested in recent days and charged with harboring Phillips, including his daughter and former girlfriend.
State police Saturday said Phillips is a threat, and not just to law enforcement.
‘‘He’s a desperate man, he knows he’s wanted and his choices are running out,’’ Gibbons said. ‘‘If someone in the community comes between him and his freedom, it is our feeling that he will become desperate and possibly hurt them.’’
State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett has said police are not looking for a shootout.
‘‘That’s not the way we want this to end,’’ he said.
But friends of Phillips have said a shootout is exactly what he wants.
They said Phillips was infuriated after police arrested his former girlfriend, Kasey Crowe, and his 23-year-old daughter, Patrina Wright, Aug. 24 and removed Wright’s three children — the youngest 3 weeks old — from her custody for a week. The children were returned to Wright’s custody Thursday.
‘‘We are caught in the middle, though, and my kids were used to bring him out,’’ Wright said Saturday by phone.