Copyright 2006 Post-Standard
All Rights Reserved
By MIKE McANDREW
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)
A 25-year-old state police trooper whose wife is expecting the couple’s first child in a month was killed Sunday evening in the hamlet of Pompey Hill while pursuing a speeding motorcyclist.
Trooper Craig J. Todeschini, of Geddes, crashed head-on into a tree shortly before 6 p.m. at the southwest corner of Route 91 and Cherry Street, said Capt. Jeffrey Raub, Zone 2 commander in Onondaga County.
Raub said Todeschini was responding to a call at 5:55 p.m. and was driving north on Route 91 when a soutbound motorcycle - possibly going more than 100 mph - passed him.
Todeschini, a 1999 graduate of West Genesee High School and the son of a retired Geddes police sergeant, turned his Chevy Tahoe around and radioed the Onondaga County 911 center that he intended to pursue the motorcycle.
With his lights and siren on, Todeschini followed for about 2 miles - for less than a few minutes - before losing control and crashing into a tree next to the house at 7364 Cherry St., Raub said.
William Blanck, 51, of Pompey-Center Road said he was putting gas in his car at the Citgo station on Route 20 at Route 91 when he heard a siren approaching. He saw the motorcycle come into the hamlet and toward the gas station, “like a bat out of hell” through the 30 mph zone.
The motorcycle slowed just slightly as it passed through the blinking red light at the intersection and continued south on Route 91, Blanck said.
About the same moment the motorcycle crossed Route 20 he heard the trooper’s SUV crash, he said.
Blanck said he paid for his gas and ran to the scene where the Pompey Hill Fire Department rescue crews had already arrived and were covering the vehicle with tarps.
State police had not located the motorcycle Sunday night.
Raub described it as a “crotch rocket” style motorcycle, a name derived from the way the rider sits on the bike and from the incredible speed and acceleration the bikes have.
It is up to each trooper’s discretion whether to pursue motorcycles or other vehicles, said Trooper Jack Keller Jr. In deciding whether to pursue a vehicle, troopers are trained to evaluate the reason for the pursuit, the weather conditions and the risk to others, Keller said.
Anyone with information about the driver and the motorcycle may contact state police at 455-2826, said Keller.
Pompey Supervisor Carole Marsh said there have been problems with motorcycles speeding in her community in the last few years. She said sometimes groups of riders will do wheelies on Routes 20 and 91 and Sweet and Henneberry roads.
Due to motorcycles and other vehicles speeding in those areas, Marsh said the town board budgeted $15,000 for extra sheriff patrols last year.
“We’ve had a number of fatalities over the years, it’s very dangerous for the residents,” Marsh said. “My heart goes out to this family and I’m sure every resident of this town feels the same way.”
Raub said Todeschini had been a trooper for 31/2 years. He’d worked at the Hastings barracks in Oswego County until he was transferred to LaFayette.
Raub called him a leader.
“I had the pleasure of working with him for over a year. He was a trooper’s trooper,” Raub said. “He was an honorable individual, who took his job seriously.”
Todeschini was a former member of the Pompey Hill Fire Department and was a current member of the Solvay Fire Department, where he was made a lieutenant in 2005, according to published reports.
The City of Syracuse and Fairmount fire departments covered the Solvay department’s calls Sunday night.
“He was a great guy. He’ll do anything for you,” said Jason Mallore, second assistant chief of the Fairmount department. He and seven other volunteers from Fairmount were at the Solvay station and promised to do “whatever they need” for the Solvay department.
Someone draped a black cloth across the Solvay department’s brick and marble sign. Someone left two potted lilies near the sign. A flag flew at half-staff.
Todeschini came from a law enforcement family: His father, James, retired as a Geddes police sergeant in 1997.
State Police Superintendent Wayne E. Bennett was brought by helicopter to the scene of the crash and then went to the home of Todeschini’s wife, Kristi, also a West Genesee graduate.
State police closed a block of the southbound lanes of Route 91 and Cherry Street to traffic Sunday evening as they photographed the crash scene and took measurements.
Pompey Hill firefighters had to use the Jaws of Life to free the trooper’s body from the SUV.
About 10:25 p.m., Todeschini’s body was put into an ambulance. About 30 volunteer firefighters and troopers stood in a line on Route 91 as the ambulance slowly rolled past with several state police vehicles escorting it. Jennie Andrews and Tim Chrysler, two Pompey Hill fire department members, held an American flag in the line.
En route to Syracuse, dozens of law enforcement and fire department vehicles from across Onondaga County joined the caravan. Todeschini’s body was taken to the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“The state police is all in a state of grief for our loss, his wife’s loss and his parents’ loss,” Raub said.