THOMPSON, NY — A man died after being shot by a NYS Trooper in the Town of Thompson on Tuesday.

The NYS Attorney General’s Office of Special Investigation (OSI) announced on Thursday that it has opened an investigation into the death of Albert Melendez, 32, of Middletown, NY.

According to the state police, troopers were pursuing a vehicle on Rock Hill Drive driven by Melendez at approximately 2:23 a.m. on July 16. Melendez tried to turn around at the intersection of Rock Hill Drive and Emerald Place.

Trooper Russell T. Peters left his patrol car and commanded Melendez to stop. Melendez’s vehicle continued forward and hit the trooper, who then fired his duty weapon, striking Melendez. 

Troopers provided emergency medical care to Melendez at the scene. He was transported to Garnet Health Medical Center, where he died.   

Peters, from Troop F, has been a member of the NYS Police since September 2021.

The trooper sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the encounter and was transported to a local hospital, where he was treated and has since been released.

The attorney general’s office said that NYS Executive Law Section 70-b requires OSI to assess every incident “where a police officer or a peace officer, including a corrections officer, may have caused the death of a person by an act or omission. Under the law, the officer may be on-duty or off-duty, and the decedent may be armed or unarmed. Also, the decedent may or may not be in custody or incarcerated.”

If OSI finds that an officer may have caused the death, it proceeds to a full investigation.

This is the second time this month that an officer from Troop F shot a civilian in Sullivan County. On July 2 a trooper shot and wounded 63-year-old Paul Gosselin, a physician from Augusta, Maine, in the parking lot of the Il Castello restaurant parking lot in Barryville. Gosselin was taken to Westchester Community Center and was expected to be arrested as he was released from the hospital.