On Monday evening, deputies from the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of trees blocking the roadway near the entrance to the Town Park, off of Old Liberty Road in the Town of Thompson.

Violent thunderstorms had just swept through the area with winds reported as high as 40 miles per hour.

Upon stepping from his patrol vehicle, Deputy Blake Starner was struck by a tree which knocked him to the ground.

Starner was taken to Catskill Regional Medical Center by Mobile Medic with a possible fracture to his leg.

Sheriff Michael Schiff, who responded to the hospital, said that his deputies face many different types of danger on the job each day. “Today’s culprit was Mother Nature,” said the Sheriff. He described Starner’s injuries as non-life threatening.

(Source: MidHudsonNews)