By Brian Rubin The two new police cruisers donated by Senator John Bonacic to the Ellenville Police Department couldn't come at a better time.

At 2 a.m. on Wednesday, April 23, full-time Ellenville PD Patrolman Christopher Spylios responded to a "hang-up, no voice" 911 call at 12 Warren Street in Ellenville, driving an unmarked 2007 Ford Taurus owned by the police department. According to Ellenville Police Chief Phil Mattracion, while travelling southbound on Child Street, crossing the intersection at Center Street while en route to the scene, Officer Spylios's vehicle was struck by a Shop Rite tractor trailer heading eastbound on Center Street.

"The force of the impact sent the vehicle into a neighboring yard at 41 Center Street. The vehicle was totaled," says Chief Mattracion.

According to the chief, Spylios had to be removed from the car using the Jaws of Life. Fortunately, no one on the scene was seriously injured. Officer Spylios was taken to Kingston City Hospital, where he was treated for neck, back, and head injuries, and was later released on that same Wednesday afternoon. The truck driver was released from Ellenville Regional Hospital where he was treated for his injuries. The Ellenville Police Department was aided at the scene by the Ellenville Fire Department, and the Ellenville Rescue Squad.

Currently, the cause of the accident is under investigation, a process that is being conducted by the New York State Police and the New York State Accident Reconstruction Unit from Troop F, Middletown. Chief Mattracion himself will head up the internal affairs portion of the investigation from an administrative standpoint, in that he will be looking to see if Officer Spylios's actions during the incident were in accordance with Ellenville Police rules and regulations. Chief Mattracion says that his own investigation will rely heavily on the state police's inquiries and findings.

Should the state troopers' and Chief Mattracion's investigations find that Officer Spylios was indeed at fault in the incident and his actions caused the collision, there could be several different possible punitive measures the department could take, including a letter of reprimand, suspension, loss of pay and/or vacation time, and retraining. However, if he is found to be at fault, the penalty will not be disclosed to the public.

"This type of incident is of grave concern to me as an administrator," says Chief Mattracion. "We certainly want to make sure that our officers are operating the vehicles safely and efficiently. We always want to make sure that they're in full compliance with all the laws. Even if you're responding to a call, you still have to operate with due caution and care."

Should the truck driver be found at fault, explains Chief Mattracion, "the state police will take whatever actions they feel appropriate."

The incident also comes at a potentially difficult time when taking the village's current budget process into account — while insurance will cover the repairs to the police car, it is possible that the cost of insurance premiums for the police department may go up if it is determined that the officer was at fault in the accident. While such an increase certainly would not have too significant an impact on the department's bottom line, any rise in costs for one of the village's five municipal services would bring the department under further scrutiny in what has already been a very difficult financial period.

The initial 911 call was investigated by another police unit that was redirected to Warren Street, where it was discovered that the call in question was the result of an accidental misdial.

Officer Spylios is currently on leave while he recovers from his injuries, and will return to active duty at an unspecified time. The cruiser is at Copart Auto in Marlboro, NY, where it is undergoing repairs.

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The make and model of the police car involved in the accident, Ford Taurus, has been in use by police departments in the United States since 1990, when the Ford Taurus Police Package was first produced, according to "The Cop Car Site," a website specializing in police vehicles. The package was discontinued in 1996, but the car is still used in various police departments, including Ellenville.

The Taurus's safety features are a large part of what has made it a staple of police use. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has named the Taurus a Top Safety Pick for 2008, so chosen for its "good performance in front, side, and rear tests and optional electronic stability control."

"Safety belt pretensioners tighten the belt, frontal air bags are inflated to the appropriate level, and the forces of the crash are…deflected by the structure of the vehicle [which is] designed specifically to help protect occupants inside," says a Ford press release of the vehicles safety features, which was published in conjunction with their display of a front-crash-tested Taurus at a recent auto show at New York's Jacob Javits Convention Center.

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