Buffalo, N.Y. - Titus Taggart, an 18-year veteran of the State Police and the son of a former top State Police official, was fired Friday as an internal investigation continues into allegations he was involved with off-duty parties involving prostitutes.
In announcing the dismissal of Taggart, 41, officials also announced that, as the result of an investigation that got under way in December, Troopers Frederick Franklin and Mark Hufnagel have been suspended from duty.
All three were assigned to Buffalo-area duties.
Neither Taggart nor his attorney, Michael G. O'Rourke, could be reached to comment.
However, John V. Elmore, an attorney who represented Taggart's cousin, Derrick Luchey, a former state trooper, in a cocaine-trafficking case a decade ago, said, "It's so sad," when informed of Taggart's firing.
Luchey was removed from the force after he was convicted of cocaine trafficking in the early 1990s.
State Police officials declined to comment when asked if Taggart still qualifies for a state police pension.
Taggart's father is Arthur Taggart, who retired as a state police colonel and who was once a special assistant to former State Police Superintendent Thomas Constantine.
The fired trooper in December became the subject of an investigation into reports that he brought prostitutes from Canada into the United States for off-duty parties.
A decade ago, he was involved in what was described as a violent incident involving a woman on Chippewa Street -- accused, in an off-duty incident, of striking the woman in the face and knocking her to the pavement near the bar district in early 2002.
Taggart was suspended from duty for three days over that incident.
Taggart, an Amherst resident, was last assigned to patrol the Thruway in Western New York.
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are solely those of the writer, and may not reflect the beliefs of anyone at the Biker News Network/Outlaw Biker World.
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes
copyright infringement and is accessible on this site or through this service,
you may notify our copyright agent, as set forth in the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). For your complaint to be valid under the DMCA, it must meet certain criteria, and you must
Click Here to contact acting agent.
Home
