COUNCILMAN COOK SPONSORS RESOLUTION TO RENAME PARK IN MEMORY OF NEW YORK CITY POLICE OFFICER CHARLES ODDO

Councilman Gene Cook on Tuesday proudly sponsored legislation to rename Verleye Park in East Northport after fallen NYPD Officer Charles A. Oddo.

Verleye Ave Park renamed Oddo Park

Oddo, who was assigned to NYPD Highway Patrol No. 2, was killed in the line of duty on February 17, 1996 after being struck by a vehicle while setting up flares in the merge lane of the Gowanus Expressway and Belt Parkway after a tanker spill.  Officer Oddo had achieved his dream of following in his father’s footsteps when he moved to the highway unit, as his father was a retired sergeant from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Highway Patrol.

The resolution was adopted unanimously during Tuesday’s board meeting.

“I was honored to have the privilege of offering this resolution during Tuesday’s town board meeting and play a part in honoring the memory of this courageous NYPD officer,” Councilman Cook said. “Officer Oddo grew up just around the corner from Verleye Park and his family still lives there, so it’s a particularly fitting place to pay tribute to his legacy and ensure his sacrifice is never forgotten.  Officer Oddo was known to be a man who would give you the shirt off his own back if you needed it.”

Oddo, a Huntington native who lived in East Northport, was a 1981 graduate of John H. Glenn High School in Elwood and joined the NYPD in 1990.  Tuesday’s action follows dozens of letters of support from members of the Commack Fire Department, where Oddo served as a volunteer firefighter, paramedic and mechanic since 1982.