Verleye Park to Be Named After Fallen NYPD Officer From East Northport

The Huntington Town Board unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday to name Verleye Park after Charles A. Oddo, a fallen NYPD Officer from East Northport and member of the Huntington community.

The Huntington native graduated from John H. Glenn High School in Elwood and served as a volunteer firefighter, paramedic and mechanic at the Commack Fire Department since 1982.

Oddo joined the NYPD in 1990 and followed in his father’s footsteps after he was assigned to NYPD Highway Patrol No. 2. Oddo’s father was a retired sergeant from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Highway Patrol.

In Feb. 1996, Oddo was struck and killed in the line of duty. He was setting up flares in the merge lane of the Gowanus Expressway and Belt Parkway after a tanker spill when he was fatally struck by a vehicle.

Oddo grew up just around the corner from Verleye Park and his family still lives there, making the park a perfect spot to pay tribute to his legacy, says Councilman Eugene Cook, who sponsored the resolution.

“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,” Cook said in a press release. “Officer Oddo was known to be a man who would give you the shirt off his own back if you needed it.”

The Town board received dozens of letters of support form members of the Commack Fire Department regarding this decision.

Verleye Park is located on Verleye Avenue between Burr Road and Colonial Street in East Northport.