City of Ithaca
Chief of Police Search Process
Ithaca cop dies in city knifing:
Woman killed in attack on officer
Journal Staff
ITHACA – An Ithaca police investigator was fatally stabbed and a woman was shot Sunday night after officers responded to a West State Street address.
Michael A. Padula, 45, was stabbed in the neck by a woman when he went to check on a call from an apartment at 514 W. State St., police said at a press conference late Sunday night.
Another officer shot and killed the woman at the scene. She was later identified as Debra Stagg, 44.
Padula was an 18-year member of the Ithaca police department.
Police released few details Sunday night. The Ithaca Fire Department reported an emergency medical call at the State Street address at 5:20 p.m.
A short time later, an emergency radio dispatcher reported that four Ithaca firefighters were being taken to Cayuga Medical Center for treatment after being sprayed with an irritant. Late Sunday, a fire official said the firefighters were not seriously injured, but the official would not comment on what the firefighters encountered at the West State Street address.
Ithaca police Sgt. David Harrington said the state police were taking over the investigation.
Sunday night, Ithaca Mayor Alan Cohen said that it is standard practice for an outside police agency to investigate cases where police have been involved in a shooting.
“We want to make sure that there is an objective investigation,” Cohen said, who was notified shortly after the incident.
Harrington said he did not know the nature of the call that brought officers to the building that houses the State Street Bargain House and some apartments above it.
Sunday night, a state trooper was standing guard outside the building. From the street, blood could be seen in a brightly lit hallway and stairs. Yellow police tape blocked the sidewalk in front of the building.
Harrington said that in his 19 years of service, no officer has been killed in the line of duty.
Padula, who has been an investigator for the last four years, was the Kiwanis Club’s officer of the month in January 1995 for his work that led to four convictions in a 1994 armed robbery and burglary case.
Return To Main Page
This project is sponsored in part by:
Concept Systems Incorporated |
 |