Hillsdale, New York — Two months after James Dellea was killed by an off-duty State Police officer in the parking lot of Bethel Saratoga, his family sat in a booth at a Hillsdale diner Sunday evening, sharing their grief and telling everyone they had lost someone who made them feel special.

“How to replace the man you look for in your happiest moments, your saddest moments and your proudest moments,” says James’ oldest daughter, Samantha Dellea.

“If you walk into the store or Stewart’s is down the road, you can’t walk in there without someone giving you a hug or a hug or telling you how sorry they are because they miss dad,” said Taylor Dellea, another from James. ‘ says the girls. “They cry to me because they miss him, because he would go there several times a day to get coffee for himself and his bosses, as if he was always there.”

The three sisters, along with Rachel, are better known in Hillsdale as “Jimbo’s girls.” Jim also has a son, James, with his wife of 33 years, Melissa.

The women in the family describe James as the person who would buy the next person a coffee and say his joy of racing and working on cars was something he shared with everyone from friends and family to his children and grandchildren. They also say the State Police in town are the only people they’ll go to to keep their vehicles in good shape.

“The community misses him. They miss seeing his face. They miss that friendly person asking them how their day was. You don’t realize how much that affects a person when you stop and take the time to see how they’re doing. On that day, you don’t know. Maybe that person that day That was the only interaction he had, and my father was that person to a lot of people,” says Samantha Dellea.

“They would ask him any question anyone had, whether it was fixing a car, doing carpentry, literally anything, you could ask him any question and he would give you an answer no matter what, and if he didn’t know the answer, he would find the answer,” he says. Rachel Dellea.

His outward compassion came amid an internal struggle, as he had lost five of his closest family members in recent years, including his mother and grandson. His family says he was in the midst of depression. This mental health battle came to a head on September 11, 2024.

“My father was showing symptoms like he was suffering from severe, undiagnosed depression. He was having thoughts of harming himself, and throughout the day we were communicating with him, trying to talk to him, trying to get him to see that this wasn’t actually the right choice to make,” says Samantha Dellea. “At one point we felt hopeless because we had looked for him ourselves, asking our friends and family members if they knew where he was, if they could help us. No one knew, no one could help him or help find him. So our last resort was to call 911 and get him “Everything went wrong from there.”

Melissa said she was on the phone with 911 for more than an hour, explaining the messages James had sent, letting her know he had a gun and where his vehicle was located.

“She told them he didn’t hurt anyone else, he could only hurt himself. My father was a very good-hearted man and would never put anyone else in danger,” says Samantha Dellea. .

Body camera video shared by the attorney general on Nov. 6 shows State Police interacting with James around 3:50 p.m. on Sept. 11. Dellea was in the parking lot of the Albany-Saratoga Speedway in Malta.

“He was at Malta Circuit because he was trying to feel close to his mother. He had won a race there earlier this year, my grandmother was my father’s biggest fan. So he was just there to try to feel close, to try to bond with her. Answers, try to feel something,” says Samantha. Dellea.

“He said that was the last place where he felt like his mother was really proud of him, and that was the last place where he was really happy. So he was just looking for a happy moment and something to get him out of that mood. I think the fact that she was there was why he went there,” Melissa says.

inside body camera videoThe police officer approaches the car with James Dellea inside and asks him to turn off the car and get out of the vehicle. James closed the window and sped away, eventually stopping in the nearly empty parking lot of Bethel Saratoga.

In the footage, three police officers, two in uniform and on duty and one off-duty, Brian Rudolph, in plainclothes, are seen once again approaching Dellea’s vehicle, this time with guns.

“They treated him like a criminal, but not like a welfare check,” says Rachel Dellea. “They went in and gave him less than three minutes. They could have sat back. It was in an empty parking lot. They could have called the crisis team and waited. No one’s life was in danger except my father.” “They got to that point and rushed it for no reason.”

In a statement sent with the release of the body camera footage, the AG’s office says: “Troopers approached Mr. Dellea, who was sitting in his car, with a long gun. During the encounter, one of the officers fired his gun at Mr. Dellea, who was on duty at the time, and Mr. Dellea died at the scene.” announced.”

In the video, James Dellea is seen hitting the driver’s side window as a police officer approaches the door, his family says he did too, and he is on the phone with his boss at the time. Officers later noticed a rifle pressed against the passenger seat window and did not say Dellea was holding the gun.

The State Police statement said Dellea refused to exit his vehicle despite multiple commands, and Dellea “brandished the firearm, at which time one of the Troopers discharged his weapon, fatally striking him.”

Body camera footage shows that after several minutes of interaction, Dellea remained in his car and used the butt of his rifle to break the passenger seat window, and the off-duty officer immediately fired three shots, killing Dellea. .

“It is justice for us that the man who shot my father is held accountable for his actions, because in our opinion they are unjust,” says Samantha Dellea. “There were a lot of steps he could have taken to prevent what happened. There was a crisis team they could have called in. There were other men in uniform who could have gotten this situation under control, because he was an off-duty police officer who chose to put himself in this situation.”

“And by shooting in their direction, he endangered his other co-workers. Like, not only did he endanger his own life, he endangered James’ life. He endangered his other co-workers as well. What if he does, do we tell someone else? What if someone else loses a family member?” ” Melissa says.

Following the tragedy, Officer Rudolph was placed on voluntary paid leave. CBS6 reached out to see if that has changed.

The family also says they expect more transparency from the department, saying they were told James Dellea was in custody and hospitalized while the scene was going on.

“The state troopers who were there told my sisters and I that our father was safe, in custody, transported to the hospital, and receiving the mental support he needed. They told us he was under surveillance. He was placed on a 72-hour hold, the first deep dive we all received in hours when it was agreed we might get more information.” we took the breath away,” says Samantha Dellea. “At this point my mother was asked to go to the police station in Livingston, she sat there for hours and nothing was said. They actually told her they were going to help find him… which hospital they were in. Then we called the Hospital, we called hospitals to find him. Around 6.50am I got a call from a family friend about my father’s “I got a call from the New York State Troopers saying my father was dead and I didn’t believe him because I was told he was dead. From there we started begging for information we were never given.”

Stay tuned for more on this story.