MARGARETVILLE, N.Y. -- New York State Police honored fallen Trooper David Brinkerhoff this afternoon in Delaware County.
Tuesday marks 10 years since the 29-year-old was killed in the line of duty in Margaretville during a standoff.
Brinkerhoff was part of the state police SWAT team that tracked a North Country fugitive to a home in the small village. Travis Trim, on probation for drunk driving, had stolen a van in the North Country in the days prior and was on his way to the Catskills region. After shooting a trooper at a traffic stop and escaping, Trim was eventually found at a nearby home.
Troop C Commander James Barnes described the scene as "very chaotic."
"There was a lot of things going on, a lot of uncertainty that was going on at the time," Barnes said.
A long standoff began, and it was there that Brinkerhoff was accidentally shot by another member of the mobile response team while in the line of fire.
Retired trooper Joseph Schmitt remembers being alongside Brinkerhoff on that tragic day.
"It actually is unfortunately fresh in my mind, and I think everybody who was there close to him. It's not a matter of wanting to remember, it's a matter of you're doing to remember," Schmitt said.
The suspect was also shot and killed. Trim's body was recovered after a fire that started at that home was extinguished.
Schmitt remembers the strength Brinkerhoff showed even minutes before his death.
"Isn't that the definition of courage, is to do your job despite being frightened, but you do it anyway?" Schmitt said. "You maintain control of your emotions and your fears and you do the job the best you can, and I think that's what David did."