Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania
End of Watch: Sunday, August 24, 1958
Age: 29
Tour of Duty: 3 years, 10 months
Badge Number: 606
Cause of Death: Struck by vehicle
Date of Incident: August 21, 1958
Weapon Used: Automobile; Commercial
Suspect Info: Received suspended sentence
Trooper Stephen Gyurke succumbed to injuries sustained when he was struck by a tractor-trailer several days earlier while making a traffic stop.
Trooper Gyurke had stopped another tractor-trailer for a traffic violation on a stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Westmoreland County. He was talking to the driver when he was struck and pinned between both trucks.
He was transported to Frick Memorial Hospital at Mt. Pleasant, where both Trooper Gyurke's legs had to be amputated above the knees before succumbing to his injuries.
The driver of the semi that struck him received a suspended sentence after pleading no defense in the case.
Trooper Gyurke was a United States Army veteran and served with the Pennsylvania State Police for under four years, assigned to Troop B-2. He was survived by his wife, mother, five brothers, and four sisters. One of his brothers also served as a state trooper.
The bridge that carries State Route 601 over Barclay Run in the Borough of Somerset, Somerset County, was named the Trooper Stephen R. Gyurke Memorial Bridge in his honor. He is buried in Saint Mary's Cemetery, Nanty-Glo, Cambria County, Pennsylvania.