Cop Killer vs. Dean Ween?

Dean Ween kept a pretty funny travel log of all the gigs Ween played this summer. But check out this entry from the show at the New York State Fair in Syracuse:

...now i swear to god that this next part is true. if you follow the news at all, you'd know that there was a fugitive in upstate new york named ralph "bucky" phillips, wanted for shooting three state troopers and he was also an escapee from the erie prison. there was a massive manhunt underway for him right about the time we were up in that part of the state. i had only heard about the story and hadn't seen him on the news at this point. on our drive back to new hope from syracuse i fell asleep in the van and when i woke up we were off the interstate at this tiny little gas station with a shitty little diner. the other guys were inside using the bathroom and gettting food and i was the last one to wake up and get out of the truck. as i was walking across the gravel parking lot all groggy this dude was walking towards me and i remember thinking as i looked at his face "if i don't stare at the top of my sneakers right now, this motherfucker is gonna kill me on the spot." it scared the fucking shit out of me. to make a long story short, i got home, slept for a couple days, turned on the t.v. and lo and behold, there was the same dude from the parking lot. they captured him right after that, and no one believes my story, but it fucking happened just like i told it.

So what do you say, supersleuths? Did our man Dean escape a brush with death? Here's an interactive map that might help you puzzle out this mystery for yourself.