In the pre-dawn hours of July 4, 2002, the quiet of Grange Hall Park in Kirkwood, New York, was shattered by an act of brutal violence that claimed the life of Broome County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin J. Tarsia. A 36-year-old, male deputy and a 13-year veteran of the force, Tarsia was on patrol when he happened upon a suspicious scene. Three men were in the process of transferring stolen firearms from one vehicle to another, the ill-gotten gains from a recent burglary of a firearms store in Great Bend, Pennsylvania. As Deputy Tarsia approached to investigate, he was met with a hail of gunfire. Two of the men opened fire, striking him more than a dozen times and then callously running him over with a vehicle.
The assailants didn't stop at murder. Before fleeing the scene, they stole Deputy Tarsia's service weapon and other items from his patrol car, leaving behind a community to grapple with the loss of one of its protectors on a day meant for celebration. The senseless murder of the first Broome County Sheriff's Deputy to be killed in the line of duty since the department's founding in 1806 triggered a massive and intensive investigation involving over 100 officers from approximately 15 different police agencies. For three days, law enforcement worked tirelessly, with some officers going more than 50 hours without sleep, to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The relentless efforts of the investigators paid off with the capture of all three suspects. The individuals responsible were identified as David Sweat, 22, his cousin Jeffrey A. Nabinger Jr., 22, and Shawn J. Devaul, 23. Sweat and Nabinger were charged with first-degree murder for their roles in the shooting. Devaul, who was present and armed but did not fire upon the deputy, was charged with third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. All three also faced burglary charges in Pennsylvania for the initial theft of the firearms.
In the end, justice was served, though it could never erase the pain of the Tarsia family and the community. David Sweat and Jeffrey Nabinger Jr. were convicted of the murder of Deputy Kevin Tarsia and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The story, however, took another dramatic turn years later when, in the summer of 2015, David Sweat, along with another inmate, executed a brazen escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility. The ensuing manhunt gripped the nation for three weeks until Sweat was ultimately wounded, shot, and recaptured near the Canadian border. His fellow escapee was shot and killed during the search.
