Trooper Shooter Gets 25 Years
Posted on Monday, 1 of September , 2008 at 5:51 pm
TUPPER LAKE—A Plattsburgh man has pleaded guilty to opening fire on two New York State Troopers during a traffic stop last August.
Brent Bates, 50, who was critically wounded himself in the exchange of gunfire, was scheduled to begin trial this week on a 17-count indictment but instead, on Friday took a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted aggravated assault on a police officer in exchange for a determinate prison sentence of 25 years.
Bates had been in possession of a stolen .357 Magnum handgun and car when he was stopped by state troopers last August.
Trooper Douglas Hoffman, 33, a native of Lake Placid who is stationed in Tupper Lake, was shot in the leg on a back road about four miles from the Village of Tupper Lake after he and Trooper Steven Euler approached a 2004 Toyota Camry they found parked alongside the road.
As the troopers approached the car, the occupant, Bates, exited and began to talk with them. When the officers asked Bates for his registration and drivers license, he said it was inside the vehicle and the three walked back towards the car. That’s when the officers saw a handgun partially hidden on the front seat. They tried to restrain Bates but he was able to grab the gun and fire at the troopers, wounding Hoffman in the left calf when a bullet ricocheted off a flashlight. The troopers returned fire, wounding Bates in the abdomen and jaw and breaking his clavicle.
Bates had been in a coma for a month and is still recovering from his injuries. He will be formally sentenced in October. 9-1-08
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Category: Adirondacks, Courts, Crime, Police
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