Trooper Joseph Paul DeFrino

Joseph Paul DeFrino

Trooper Joseph DeFrino, Trooper Milan Simcak, and Trooper Arthur Abagnale were killed in an automobile accident on the New Jersey Turnpike near the Passaic River Bridge in Kearny.

The troopers were accompanying a dump truck, with red lights flashing and traveling at 15- 20 miles an hour when a bus rounded a curve, hit a car, and then rolled onto the cruiser and pushed it into the truck. The driver of the bus stated that his brakes failed. The troopers were pronounced dead at the scene.

Trooper DeFrino was a United States Air Force veteran and had served with the New Jersey State Police for three years. He was survived by his parents, two sisters, and fiancee.