Deputy Tarsia Remembered On July 4th

Broome County Sheriff’s Department officials and many local residents say they will never forget a tragic 4^th of July 15 years ago when the first deputy to be killed in the line of duty in the county was gunned down in Kirkwood.

Early that morning, Deputy Kevin Tarsia pulled into Grange Hall Park to check out a suspicious vehicle and found David Sweat and another suspect in a car with newly stolen guns from a business in Pennsylvania.  Tarsia was gunned down in his car.

Sweat was convicted of murdering the Deputy and was sent to Danamora prison, where he and another inmate escaped in the summer of 2015 with the other inmate being killed by authorities and Sweat taken back into custody.

Colleagues say more important than the story of the man who killed Deputy Tarsia is the story of Tarsia himself, who is remembered as a hard-worker and dedicated to his job.

A memorial plague hangs at the Broome Public Safety Building commemorating the loss of the Deputy.