Syracuse parole officer dies on icy road

An icy road led to the death of a Syracuse parole officer March 19.

PEF Division 236 member Jeffrey Woolson was traveling while on the job to an assignment on County Route 11 in Monroe, Oswego County, when his vehicle slid off the road and struck a tree, killing him.

He left behind his mother and brother.

Woolson, 41, was admired by his fellow parole officers.

“He was the first one to help out, and the last guy to leave every day,” said Parole Officer John Walters. “He was one of the hardest working parole officers we had here. He did the job the best he could and never looked back. Every parole officer would like to work like Jeff Woolson did.”

In remembrance, the Syracuse parole officers took a collection and donated the money to a local food pantry in Woolson’s name, a cause that was close to his heart. And the state Division of Parole presented a plaque to his family, commemorating the good work he accomplished during his life.
Woolson was a state parole officer for a little more than two years, and had served for 14 years with the Oswego County Probation Department.

PEF President Ken Brynien wrote to the family expressing condolences and offered the union’s support by outlining the benefits available and offering the assistance of PEF staff.

PEF Region 4 Coordinator Don Kehoskie said the accident was a sad example of how state workers put their lives on the line every day, no matter what their job may be.

“Jeffrey Woolson was performing his duty for the people in the state of New York,” Kehoskie said. “It can be a hazard, and in this case, a real loss.”

“It is a tragic loss,” Brynien said. “Our sincere sympathies go out to his mother, brother and fellow parole officers with whom he worked.”

— Deborah A. Miles

By DEBORAH A. MILES
PEF Division 236 members at the state Division of Parole reacted swiftly March 31 when a parolee, Eric Van Reid, grabbed a female parole officer and held a knife to her throat.

Van Reid, 50, ignored the orders from other parole officers at the Queens Parole Office at 92-36 Merrick Boulevard to drop the weapon and release the hostage.

Two parole officers shot and killed him, saving the hostage’s life.

“The parole officers were doing what we call an operation clean sweep that day,” said PEF Division 236 Council Leader Manuelita Clemente, also a parole officer.

“Periodically, they search all the parolees coming in to report to make sure they have no drugs or weapons. While Van Reid was sitting in the corner, he was very fidgety. They suspected he had a weapon,” Clemente said.

The incident began when parole officers noticed Van Reid took something out of his bag and hid it under his chair.

When confronted about what he was hiding, van Reid stood up and pulled a knife out from under his seat. He put the knife in the neck of a female parole officer, taking her hostage, according to Clemente.

Two other parole officers, one male and one female, stood on each side of him and ordered him to drop the weapon and release the hostage. He refused. Both officers shot him.

“We expect the officers who did the shooting will be exonerated, since they used the necessary force to protect the life of a fellow parole officer,” Clemente said.

Van Reid had only been out of prison five months. He had spent 21 years of his life behind bars for a series of burglaries in the Syracuse area. His criminal record began when he was 16 and was convicted of robbing a 71-year-old woman.

In 1987, Van Reid broke into a woman’s home in Syracuse, hit her in the head with a wrench several times, produced a knife, covered her body in soap and raped her.

He also shot a police officer in the stomach and escaped from Rikers Island, according to state records.

The officer who was held hostage received minor physical injuries from dropping to the floor.

PEF leaders have been working with parole managers to mobilize trauma response personnel to provide support to the affected officers and their co-workers.

The death of this parolee brings to light a problem within the state Division of Parole – the need for metal detectors to screen parolees for weapons when they enter parole offices.

“We have been fighting to get metal detectors in all our offices as far back as the late 1990s when a parolee in New Rochelle came to report in a wheelchair. He had a gun and killed himself.

Having a metal detector is essential. We have found knives, guns, drugs and razor blades on parolees. If we had metal detectors, it would deter parolees from bringing in any weapons,” Clemente said.

PEF President Ken Brynien contacted Henry Lemons, interim chair of the state Parole Board, and Denise O’Donnell, deputy secretary for public safety and commissioner of Criminal Justice Services.

Brynien thanked them for the division’s quick response to the Queens incident and raised the need for metal detectors.

Clemente said PEF Vice President Pat Baker was also on the scene helping the dozens of parole officers who witnessed the shooting recover from the trauma.

“I was very proud of PEF and the way the union responded to this tragedy,” Clemente said.