An off-duty NYPD detective driving residence on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Orange County was killed early Friday when his automotive veered off the highway at an exit and struck a tree, in line with officers and sources.
Detective Charles Cato, a 17-year veteran, seems to have misplaced management of his automobile about 6:30 a.m. close to Exit 19 near Bear Mountain State Park, police sources mentioned.
The automobile veered onto the left shoulder of the exit ramp hitting a tree and inflicting the automobile to erupt in flames, the sources mentioned.
Medics took the gravely injured detective to Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital in Newburgh the place he was pronounced useless at:6:55 a.m., the sources mentioned.
“Detective Cato had been tirelessly working investigating shootings. He was brave and relentless. The public and the rest of the greatest detectives in the world will miss him,” mentioned Scott Munro, president of the Detectives Endowment Affiliation.
Cato was assigned since 2019 to the Drive Investigation Division, which conducts exhaustive probes into police concerned shootings, data present. He joined the NYPD in July 2007 and was promoted to detective third grade in 2017.
The state police are investigating the crash, spokeswoman Jennifer Alvarez mentioned, declining additional remark.
Initially Revealed: December 6, 2024 at 2:34 PM EST
