Ex-local trooper dies in upstate car crash
A state trooper who formerly was stationed in Orange and Sullivan counties was killed Tuesday in a chainreaction crash outside a state police barracks in the Mohawk Valley as he arrived for work.
State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II said Trooper Jeremy J. VanNostrand’s private vehicle was stopped in traffic, waiting to turn into the barracks parking lot in Montgomery County, when his vehicle was rearended by a box truck about 7:45 a.m. and pushed into oncoming traffic on state Route 5S.
A pickup then struck VanNorstrand’s vehicle, police said.
VanNostrand, 36, was taken to Albany Medical Center, where he died from his injuries, Beach said. The other drivers sustained minor injuries, police said.
VanNostrand was a six-year state police veteran who previously worked at the barracks in Middletown and Liberty, state police said. He also worked for eight years as a state corrections officer.
His survivors include his wife and their 6-year-old daughter, his parents and his brothers. Funeral arrangements were pending. Police said VanNostrand was arriving at work from his home in neighboring Schenectady County when the box truck slammed into his vehicle at the entrance to the barracks parking lot. Snow and rain were moving through the area at the time, but troopers said it was too early in the investigation to determine a cause of the crash or if the box truck driver will be charged.
VanNostrand was “very aggressive” and “hard working,” according to state police Maj. Robert Patnaude, commander of Troop G, to which VanNostrand was assigned.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered that flags at all state government buildings be lowered to half-staff in VanNorstrand’s honor from Wednesday until his burial.