MONROE – It was 50 years ago on Sunday, December 14, 1975, that Trooper William McDonagh responded to a domestic dispute in the hamlet of Sugar Loaf.
A man had shot and killed his girlfriend near a phone book she had used to call for help. When Trooper McDonagh arrived at the scene, he was shot by the woman’s killer. A backup patrol then killed the assailant when he refused to surrender.
McDonagh, who was 24 at the time, was the best friend and brother-in-law to Jimmy O’Donnell, a retired Troop F major and a top commander of the State Police in Albany.
To this day, he said the main never goes away over the loss of his buddy.
“Billy was an all-city basketball player who turned down a couple of basketball scholarships to go into the Marine Corps, spent two years in the Marine Corps,” O’Donnell said. “He was actually hoping to go to Vietnam and he never got sent, and when he came out of the Marine Corps, he went to Hunter College for a couple of years, and the both of us wee bartending in New York City and we got to meet some troopers that were working undercover in New York City. They were the ones that got us interested in the State Police.”
A ceremony was held at the Monroe State Police barracks on Sunday to honor the fallen hero with retired comrades and top brass attending from Albany.
Trooper McDonagh was a member of the force for just two years at the time of his death.
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