SHOT DURING A TRAFFIC STOP: THE I-88 BODYCAM THAT SHOWS HOW FAST A ROUTINE STOP CAN TURN INTO A GUNFIGHT

HOOK — A TRAFFIC STOP THAT CHANGED IN SECONDS

At first glance, the body-camera image looks almost ordinary.

A New York highway stretches into the distance. Traffic is backed up ahead. A tractor-trailer loaded with logs sits along the roadway. Nothing in that single frame immediately explains the violence that had erupted only moments earlier.

But look at the timestamp: June 16, 2023 — 11:13 a.m.

The camera belonged to New York State Trooper Richard Albert, and by the time this frame was recorded, what began as a speeding stop on Interstate 88 had already transformed into an armed confrontation, a highway crash, an attempted escape, a manhunt and a massive police response.

Albert had stopped a silver Honda Pilot after observing it traveling at an extremely high speed eastbound on I-88 in the town of Duanesburg. Authorities later said the SUV was traveling at more than 100 mph, with official later accounts putting the speed at approximately 110–112 mph.

He approached the driver's side expecting to conduct a traffic stop.

Instead, a handgun appeared from the window.

There had been virtually no warning.

Police said Nelson Troche, 32, who was sitting in the passenger seat, reached across the driver and fired toward Albert through the driver's-side window.

One of the rounds struck the trooper in his upper left arm and shoulder.

Yet that was only the beginning.

What followed became one of the most dramatic episodes captured by a New York State Police body-worn camera — and one that would later earn Albert national recognition.

OPENING — WHAT HAPPENED ON I-88?

The incident occurred shortly after 11 a.m. on June 16, 2023, along Interstate 88 in Schenectady County.

Albert was assigned to the Cobleskill Interstate Patrol and had more than two decades of experience with the New York State Police.

According to prosecutors, Albert observed a Honda Pilot traveling eastbound at more than 110 mph and initiated a traffic stop. The driver was later identified as Alicia Eriole, then 31. Her boyfriend, Nelson Troche, was sitting in the passenger seat.

The traffic stop itself initially looked like countless others performed on American highways every day.

Albert stopped behind the SUV and walked toward the driver's side.

Then the situation changed almost instantaneously.

Authorities said Troche reached across Eriole and extended a handgun from the driver's-side window.

He fired.

Albert was hit.

Contemporary reporting noted that investigators said there had been no meaningful interaction between Albert and the occupants before the shooting began.

That detail is crucial.

There was no prolonged roadside argument visible beforehand. No lengthy confrontation gradually escalating toward violence.

The danger emerged almost immediately.

A still image subsequently released by New York State Police captured the extraordinary moment: a handgun protruding from the vehicle toward Albert.

 

 

 

Albert was wounded in his left shoulder area, but he remained conscious and capable of responding.

He returned fire.

Suddenly, Interstate 88 was no longer simply the location of a traffic stop.

It had become an active shooting scene surrounded by civilian traffic.

And that created another danger.

Drivers approaching the scene had little time to understand why gunfire was erupting beside the highway.

A pickup truck stopped abruptly.

A tractor-trailer hauling logs was traveling nearby.

The log truck struck the pickup, contributing to a chaotic chain reaction around the scene.

That truck — clearly visible in the bodycam frame you provided — would soon become one of the most remarkable parts of the entire story.

THE INCIDENT — A WOUNDED TROOPER, AN ESCAPE ATTEMPT AND AN UNEXPECTED INTERVENTION

After the initial exchange of gunfire, Troche and Eriole attempted to get away.

But the driver of the log truck had witnessed what was happening.

Instead of simply driving away from the danger, the truck driver took action.

Authorities credited him with deliberately positioning his tractor-trailer to interfere with the suspects' escape. Contemporary reporting described the driver pulling the truck into the path of the SUV so that it could not simply flee the scene.

This explains why the truck occupies such a prominent position in the bodycam footage.

It wasn't merely background traffic.

It became part of the incident.

The intervention disrupted the escape and forced the suspects to look for another way out.

THE ATTEMPTED CARJACKING

The chaos continued.

According to later official accounts, Troche and Eriole tried to take control of a disabled pickup truck at gunpoint after their own vehicle could no longer provide an easy escape route.

Albert, meanwhile, was still wounded.

Yet he continued pursuing them.

The terrain surrounding the highway provided both opportunities and dangers. The grassy median and roadside features offered limited cover while Albert continued tracking the suspects.

The confrontation was no longer confined to the original traffic stop.

It had expanded across the highway.

Eventually, the suspects abandoned the attempt to escape by vehicle and moved toward the wooded area near Darby Hill Road.

Troche disappeared into the woods.

Eriole was eventually taken into custody.

Albert finally received medical treatment and was transported to Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.

Despite being shot, he was stable enough to be released from the hospital later that same day.

THE MANHUNT

Police from multiple agencies flooded the area.

I-88 was closed between Exits 23 and 24, while officers searched for the armed suspect. Tactical units were deployed, roads were blocked, and nearby businesses were alerted to the danger.

Approximately an hour and a half after the initial shooting, officers located Troche in a wooded area off Darby Hill Road.

Authorities said he had suffered what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Troopers attempted medical aid until emergency personnel arrived. Troche was transported by helicopter to Albany Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The shooting itself had lasted only a fraction of the larger incident.

Its consequences stretched for hours — and legally, for years.

 

 

WHAT THE BODYCAM LATER REVEALED

One unusual aspect of this case is the timeline of the footage itself.

The shooting happened in June 2023, but the body-camera footage became a major public story again when video showing the confrontation was released in May 2025.

The footage provided a much clearer visual account of what Albert experienced.

It showed the speed with which the stop changed from routine enforcement into a lethal-force encounter.

Police1's account of the released footage described Albert approaching the stopped vehicle before the handgun appeared and shots were fired. Even after being wounded, the trooper returned fire and continued responding to the threat.

The bodycam also helps explain something written reports cannot communicate as effectively: the physical complexity of the scene.

Civilian vehicles were nearby.

A large log truck was involved.

The suspects were moving between vehicles and toward surrounding terrain.

The officer had been injured.

Backup had not yet fully arrived.

Every new movement potentially changed the threat.

For viewers, this is why the footage is so compelling without requiring exaggerated narration. The tension comes from understanding that Albert had to process multiple problems almost simultaneously.

He had to react to being shot.

He had to locate the shooter.

He had to consider passing motorists.

He had to communicate with dispatch.

He had to prevent an armed suspect from escaping into the public.

And he had to do all of that while injured.

THE DRIVER'S ROLE BECAME A MAJOR LEGAL QUESTION

The legal story did not end with Troche's death.

Investigators also examined the actions of Alicia Eriole, who had been driving the Honda Pilot.

Initially, the question was how much responsibility she bore for what Troche had done.

That became clearer during later court proceedings.

On September 27, 2024, the Schenectady County District Attorney's Office announced that Eriole had pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal facilitation in connection with the shooting.

The official account contained an important detail that was not obvious from early reports.

Prosecutors said Eriole admitted providing assistance to Troche in the moments before he fired.

District Attorney Robert Carney said investigators did not have evidence that Eriole had planned the shooting or that she herself was armed. However, prosecutors alleged that she reclined the driver's seat, creating room for Troche to reach across her and fire through the driver's-side window.

That distinction matters.

The case against her was not based on an allegation that she pulled the trigger.

It focused on whether her actions intentionally facilitated Troche's conduct.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors announced an agreed sentence of four to twelve years in state prison, while other charges were resolved through the agreement.

The case demonstrates why the first few seconds of bodycam footage can become enormously important long after an incident is over.

Body cameras are not merely dramatic recordings.

They can become evidence.

Investigators can examine positioning inside a vehicle, movements before gunfire, the sequence of events, officer commands and the behavior of everyone present.

A moment lasting seconds can later become the subject of months or years of legal analysis.

WHY THIS INCIDENT RECEIVED NATIONAL ATTENTION

Albert's actions did not disappear from public attention after the investigation.

In 2024, the American Association of State Troopers named Richard Albert its Trooper of the Year.

The New York State Senate subsequently adopted a resolution honoring him for the courage displayed during the June 16 encounter.

The recognition emphasized an important element of the incident: Albert continued responding after he had already been wounded.

The award was not simply about surviving the initial shooting.

It recognized his actions during everything that followed.

There was also another person whose behavior deserves attention: the unnamed tractor-trailer driver.

Police officials publicly credited the truck driver for acting at a critical moment and helping prevent the suspects from simply driving away.

That intervention carried obvious personal risk.

A civilian truck driver had encountered an active gunfight on an interstate and made a split-second decision that affected the suspects' ability to escape.

It is one of the reasons the image you provided is more significant than it initially appears.

The log truck in that frame is not merely scenery.

It represents one of the turning points of the incident.

ENDING — WHY THE QUIETEST FRAME MAY TELL THE BIGGEST STORY

Return to the original image.

Without context, it could easily be mistaken for footage from a highway accident.

A truck.

Stopped traffic.

A guardrail.

Trees.

An ordinary summer morning in upstate New York.

But by 11:13 a.m. on June 16, 2023, nearly every ordinary assumption about that scene had already disappeared.

A trooper had stopped a speeding SUV.

A gun appeared through the window.

The trooper was shot.

He returned fire.

Civilian traffic became caught in the emergency.

A truck driver intervened.

The suspects attempted to escape.

An attempted carjacking followed.

One suspect disappeared into the woods.

A regional manhunt began.

And a traffic stop that should have lasted only minutes became an incident remembered years later.

That is ultimately what makes this bodycam footage so effective.

It doesn't require sensationalism.

The strongest element is the contrast between how ordinary the stop looked at first and how rapidly the circumstances changed.

Albert survived.

Troche did not.

Eriole's actions eventually resulted in a criminal-facilitation guilty plea.

And the footage preserved a minute-by-minute record of an event that would later lead to national recognition for the trooper who stood on that highway.

For viewers, it is also a reminder of something easily lost when police footage is reduced to short viral clips: the most important part of a bodycam video is often not the dramatic moment itself.

It is understanding what happened before it, what decisions were made during it, and what happened afterward.

That context turns footage into a story.

And in this case, the story began with nothing more unusual than a speeding vehicle on Interstate 88.

The bodycam shows just how quickly this traffic stop changed — and the moments that followed are even more intense. Watch the full video to see how the encounter unfolded from the trooper's point of view.

▶ WATCH THE FULL BODYCAM VIDEO HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_ih7-WvkQU