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NYPD Cop on Way Home From Shift Dies in Wreck With Parks Department Truck: Police, Sources

Police say the officer was driving home when he collided with the Parks Department truck

What to Know

  • An off-duty NYPD officer has died in a crash with a Parks Department truck in the Bronx, police say
  • Police received a call reporting a car accident at 870 Shore Road in Pelham Bay around 8:20 a.m., the NYPD said
  • Police say the officer was driving home when he collided with the Parks Department truck

An NYPD officer on his way home from an overnight shift guarding police headquarters in Manhattan died in a wreck with a Parks Department truck in the Bronx, according to officials and law enforcement sources familiar with the case. 

The 28-year-old officer was found unconscious at the scene of the Shore Road wreck in Pelham Bay shortly before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said. 

He was taken to Jacobi Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

At a press conference, Assistant Chief Larry Nikunen, the commanding officer of NYPD Patrol Borough Bronx, identified the off-duty officer as Brian Kessler.

Kessler had just wrapped up a tour manning security at 1 Police Plaza and was driving home on Shore Road when he hit the Parks Department truck head-on, Nikunen said. 

Two Parks Department employees who were in the truck suffered minor injuries and were taken to the hospital for treatment, according to Nikunen.

The driver of the truck has not been charged.

Kessler, who lived in Westchester, was a "well-liked" officer who had been with the department for nine months, another official said at Wednesday's press conference.

He was engaged to be married, the official added.

Kessler is usually assigned to Police Service Area 8 housing, which serves NYCHA's developments in the 43rd and 45th precincts in the Bronx, Nikunen said.

Residents who live in the vicinity of the crash told News 4 the area is notoriously dangerous. 

"For people who do not know this road, it's serious, because there's been so many accidents over here," one resident said.

An investigation into the deadly crash is ongoing.

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