On December 28th, 2024, just before 1am, the midnight patrol sergeant conducted a traffic stop for a speeding violation on SR 434. The sergeant made his initial approach of the vehicle and spoke with the motorist. After obtaining their license, registration and insurance information he began walking back to his patrol vehicle to issue a warning for a minor speeding violation. When the sergeant opened his driver side door to enter his vehicle another motorist drove across the median of SR 434 and struck his patrol vehicle, hitting the open patrol vehicle’s door into his wrist. The suspect vehicle that struck the patrol vehicle came to a stop approximately 100 feet away. Upon approaching the suspect vehicle, it became apparent that this was not an intentional act but an impaired driver that lost control of their vehicle. Additional officers responded to the scene and took the driver of the vehicle into custody for Driving While Ability Impaired, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance 7th degree (methamphetamine), Reckless Endangerment 2nd degree and numerous Vehicle and Traffic Law violations. 

The driver of the vehicle, Richard T. Maddox was taken into custody for the aforementioned charges where he submitted to a chemical test of his blood. A quantity of narcotics was discovered on his person and tested positive for methamphetamine. Maddox was processed and issued an appearance ticket returnable to the Town of Vestal Court. 

There are no routine calls for service in this line of work. They may sound routine to the public due to the high volume of specific complaints that get publicized, such as domestics, larcenies, disputes, alarms and vehicle stops but they all involve some level of human interaction and even without ill intent, people are unpredictable. We commend the sergeant for maintaining his composure during this tense incident. This "routine" traffic stop was anything but and we are glad that the sergeant only suffered minor injuries. We also commend the responding officers for their part in the arrest, including K9 handler Schultz and her K9 partner Vaughn. We would also like to thank the New York State Police for their role in the impaired driving investigation.