State Trooper Trainee Dies During Morning Run at Police Academy

Trooper Donald R. Fredenburg, assigned to the New York State Police Academy for Basic School Training, collapsed this morning while participating in a daily physical training run.

At 6:30 am, the Academy class was about a quarter-mile into their morning run around the UAlbany campus when Fredenburg fell to the ground, officials said.

New York State Police Academy staff tended to Fredenburg and he was transported to Albany Medical Center where he died at about 7:30 am.

Fredenburg, 23, served as a U.S. Marine from 2009 until 2013 and was in his second week of training at the New York State Police Academy in the 203rd Basic School.

He is from Utica, NY and is survived by his wife, Angela; father, Donald Sr.; and mother, Joanne Cowley.

“It is with great sadness that we learn of the death of State Police Trooper Donald R. Fredenburg, who passed away this morning after collapsing during a training exercise,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a press release. “A Utica native, Trooper Fredenburg put his life on the line for his fellow New Yorkers as a U.S. Marine, and was prepared to do the same during his training as a New York State Trooper. He represented the ideal of service to another that defines the State Police so well. My heart goes out to the friends and family of Trooper Fredenburg, and I am directing that flags on all state government buildings be flown at half-staff on Monday, March 16 in his memory.”