Trooper Brian N. Rovnak, 39, lost his life on February 2, 1983, in a one-car crash on Interstate 84, five miles east of the Taconic Parkway.
The incident occurred while Trooper Rovnak and his partner were en route to meet another patrol.
Trooper Rovnak was a Vietnam veteran, having served with a Military Police detachment in the U.S. Army.
He was a 16-year NYSP veteran and had been assigned to patrol Interstate 84 and the Taconic State Parkway since 1969.
Among the comments on the NYSP Facebook page (February 2020) was this one from Alan Morrison Jr: “I pass under the Trooper Brian N. Rovnak memorial bridge on the TSP every day. I’m glad I read this and learned something about the person for which it was named. May you rest in eternal peace Trooper Rovnak. Thank you for your service and dedication to our nation and to the people of New York State through your service with the NYSP. Never forgotten!”
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This memorial page has been published here by written permission of the New York State Police.
If any family members or friends wish to add further information or photographs to this page, it would be our privilege to do so in Trooper Rovnak’s memory. If that is the case, please contact us at Road Safety USA.
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Brian was truly a great man. I babysat for he and wife for a few years. He was a quiet man and he always treated me so well. This was such a tragedy and loss to our community when he died .
Thank you for your comment, Maria. It is always so pleasing to get a nice insight into someone’s personality, rather than them just being a sad statistic.