Sagtikos State Parkway markers honor memory of 2 Long Island state troopers

A pair of state troopers who patrolled Long Island roadways — one who died on duty, the other killed on his way home from the job — were remembered Monday with permanent tributes on the Sagtikos State Parkway in Suffolk.

Friends and family of Thomas O’Neill, who was 56 in July 2005 when he suffered a fatal heart attack after an arrest in Islip, and Fabio Buttitta, who was 31 in August 1997 and heading home after a shift when killed by a wrong-way impaired driver, joined elected leaders and others at the morning ceremony to dedicate two overpasses in the troopers' names.

State police blocked off roads to assist the caravan of people, first stopping at an overpass at the G Road bridge to unveil a sign dedicated to Buttitta, then traveling to the Crooked Hill Road overpass to do the same for O’Neill.

"It just brings tears to my eyes," said O’Neill's widow, Mary, after getting a look at the sign honoring her late husband.

"It brings it all back," she said, "that day that I was notified."

On July 6, 2005, Thomas O'Neill suffered a fatal heart attack after arresting an individual at a gas station in the Town of Islip.

Mary O’Neill said she knew her late husband for 24 years before they married in their 40s. They had no children, but they valued family and dedicated themselves to spending time with their nieces and nephews.

"I try to remember the good," O’Neill said.

State Assemb. Keith Brown (R-Northport) and Jodi Giglio (R-Riverhead) and State Sen. Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood) also attended the ceremony.

"We know your loss is deeply personal, and we hope today's ceremony brings some measure of comfort in knowing their lives continue to inspire to the men and women of the New York State Police," Martinez said. "May these bridges be a place of healing and a reminder of the duty, the honor and the love for family, for community and for the state of New York."

O’Neill attended East Islip High School and worked patrolling parkways with the now-defunct Parkway Police — like his father — before becoming a state trooper, said his sister, Muriel Worst, 70, of Islip Terrace.

Buttitta, who graduated from Nassau Community College and like O'Neill, had been assigned to New York State Police Troop L, was driving home on Aug. 24, 1997, after completing his shift when his vehicle was struck head-on by an impaired driver.

His parents, Norma and Salvatore Buttitta, attended the ceremony.

"Fabio was the greatest," said Norma Buttitta, who became emotional after receiving a smaller version of the sign from elected officials.

"He was a good person; a big, big heart ... will help anybody," she said of her late son. "He was caring about everybody else."

Salvatore Buttitta recalled how when they visited his home country of Italy, his son would proudly wave an American flag.

When Fabio Buttitta learned he would soon become a state trooper, his father recalled Monday, he went outside in the rain, fell to his knees, and yelled "Thank you, God!" repeatedly.

"I didn’t know why he thanked God for becoming a trooper," Salvatore Buttitta said on his thoughts at the time. "But he said he wants to help, to make it [the community] better."