• Senator Gipson Sponsor’s Bill to Memorialize Fallen Police Officer
ALBANY – Part of Route 9 in Dutchess County was renamed Friday in honor of a Poughkeepsie police officer who died in the line of duty in 2011.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday signed a bill designating the highway the “Detective John M. Falcone Memorial Highway” after the veteran of the Poughkeepsie Police Department was shot and killed in February 2011 during a violent confrontation on lower Main Street.
Falcone was killed after he confronted a man who was holding his 3-year-old daughter while waving a gun. The assailant had previously shot his wife, who died, and later turned the gun on himself. The young girl survived.
“Detective Falcone served his community bravely, and he paid the ultimate sacrifice in order to keep innocent New Yorkers safe,” Cuomo said in a statement. “His actions are a reminder of the selflessness that characterizes our state’s law enforcement community, and I am proud to sign this bill in his memory.”
The memorial highway will cover the portion of Route 9 in the city of Poughkeepsie, where Falcone served as a police officer for 18 years.
Falcone lived in Marlboro, Dutchess County, after growing up in Putnam County.
The bill to rename the highway was sponsored by Sen. Terry Gipson, D-Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, and Assemblyman Frank Skartados, D-Milton, Ulster County.
“This memorial highway should serve as a constant reminder of Detective Falcone’s legacy of heroic service, inspiring courage, and commitment to justice in the City of Poughkeepsie,” Gipson said in a statement.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________