Times Union in a bombshell<\/a> report, could force both men off the job.<\/p>\nState Police First Deputy Superintendent Christopher West is being forced to resign over a Ryder Cup scandal. New York State Troopers<\/p>\n
State police spokesman Beau Duffy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.<\/p>\n
But in a statement to Times Union, Duffy said state police Superintendent Steven James \u201cordered an immediate investigation\u201d into two of the department\u2019s executive officers over the tournament scandal. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe superintendent has asked for the resignation of two executive staff members involved, and both are expected to retire in the coming days,\u201d Duffy told the outlet. \u201cIntegrity is the cornerstone of the state police, and all allegations of misconduct will be thoroughly investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both men could opt to retire, according to the report.<\/p>\n
The Ryder Cup golf tournament in Farmingdale in September is one of the sport\u2019s most prestigious events. Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
West and Pitkin both had law enforcement access to the Farmingdale tournament that ran from Sept. 26 to 28, and were photographed with James and golfer Rory McIlroy at the start of the event.<\/p>\n
But after James returned to Albany, the two high-ranking troopers allegedly snuck relatives in, a violation of their duty that ruffled feathers among some of the department\u2019s rank and file, the outlet said. <\/p>\n
West and Pitkin were part of the security detail at the tournament, with troopers stationed at the event cautioned to not even accept free meals \u2014 let alone bring friends and family in with them.<\/p>\n
In a statement to The Post on Wednesday, a rep for Gov. Kathy Hochul acknowledged the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cGov. Hochul has been briefed by Superintendent James on these troubling allegations and supports the superintendent\u2019s decision to ask for the resignation of two executive staff members,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
State Police Col. Darren Pitkin is one of two high-ranking troopers under investigation over Ryder Cup access. New York State Troopers<\/p>\n
\u201cLaw enforcement is sworn to uphold the law and should be held to the highest standards,\u201d it went on. \u201cOur administration has zero tolerance for wrongdoing of any kind and all allegations of misconduct will be fully investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Word of the state police probe comes after a separate scandal linked to an NYPD veteran at the event.<\/p>\n
NYPD Detective Melvin Eng got into hot water when he showed up at the event in full tactical gear<\/a> allegedly falsely claiming to be part of the security detail at the Ryder Cup while out on sick leave. <\/p>\nEng\u2019s stunt came just one day after President Trump attended the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two of the Empire State\u2019s highest ranking state troopers are being forced off the job after allegedly sneaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[19085,426,776,57,4393,9,11,10,49,51,50,29463,9960,58],"class_list":["post-53371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-investigations","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-long-island","tag-metro","tag-misconduct","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-ryder-cup","tag-state-troopers","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}