By Dan Hust
LIBERTY — November 25, 2003 – Tragedy befell the Liberty barracks of the New York State Police on Sunday.
According to Major Alan Martin, former Liberty barracks chief and now commander of Troop F (which includes Liberty), Trooper Jeffrey T. Edelson, 34, died after losing control of his 2000 Ford Crown Victoria patrol car while pursuing a vehicle.
Edelson reportedly had just turned around to chase down and stop a speeding car, said Captain Michael Cahill of Troop F in Middletown, and he apparently lost control of his car around 1 p.m. while descending a hill on Route 55 near its intersection with Airport Road in Liberty, about a mile northeast of the Liberty barracks.
His car then skidded into a roadside tree, flipping up on its side and wedging itself against the tree, roof crushed.
Major Martin sent out a press release late Sunday expressing “deep regret and sadness” over the tragedy.
Police are looking for the truck Edelson was apparently trying to catch up to – a black extended-cab pickup – whose operator may have witnessed the accident. People can call the Liberty barracks at 292-6600 if they have such information.
Edelson, a six-year veteran of the State Police, is survived by his parents, Steven and Ellen Edelson of Brookville, and a sister, Lynda, of New York City.
Services are today at 11 a.m. at Gutterman’s Funeral Home in Woodbury, followed by interment at the New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, L.I.