Traffic stop turns nightmarish for New York trooper

After two days of confusion, New York state police are talking about the terrifying incident that forced drivers to flee from their cars.

In an unusual move, police showed reporters video of the shooting taken from a camera inside the patrol car.

It’s a crucial piece of evidence, but state police wanted everybody to see just how easily a routine traffic stop can turn into a potentially deadly situation.

It all started shortly before noon Saturday when a Connecticut taxicab was pulled over by a state trooper for speeding on Interstate 90.

Suddenly the back window of the taxi was blown out by a bullet and then another. 

Then one was fired through the windshield of the trooper’s car, leaving a spider web of shattered glass.

“We don’t know why Darrel Brown opened fire on us yet,“ Troop G Commander Maj. William Sprague said.

Luckily for the trooper and the cab driver, both were already several feet away from the gunman.

Police say Brown hired the cab to take him from Hartford, Connecticut to the Albany area.

Sprague says the cab driver was going 84 mph in a 65 mph zone.

So the trooper pulled him over.

“While talking with the cab driver he observed Darrel Brown pull an assault rifle out of a duffle bag,“ Sprague described.

“The trooper maintained excellent awareness.

Got himself and the cabbie back,“ the major added.

Police say Brown fired at least 28 shots from a semi-automatic rifle they now have in evidence.
Six members from the state police and one officer from East Greenbush fired back.

During the height of all this police managed to close the highway between exits 9 and 10.

Motorists were evacuated from their vehicles and ran for their lives as gunfire continued erupting.

Sprague says Brown eventually took a bullet to the head and collapsed onto the ground.

That ended the shootout, but there are still a lot of questions only Brown can answer.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to talk to him. He was shot multiple times, including a head shot that inflicted traumatic injury on him,“ Sprague said.

Of course one of those questions is why he was he headed to Albany with a rifle in his bag.

Police wouldn’t say if Brown has family or friends in the area.