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Drunk Driving Cop Got Off With Just Summons After Wreck
By
John Del Signore
Published May 17, 2011
Modified May 17, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 17, 2011
Modified May 17, 2011
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A Manhattan cop who drunkenly mowed down two light poles and two parking meters one night in Westchester allegedly got favors from local police who bent over backwards to help him. And according to a surveillance recording (below) of the drunk cop's colleague, the unidentified officer was so drunk that he initially spurned the favors extended to him by Westchester police and refused to take even the light summonses. Murray Weiss at DNAinfo obtained the recording, which is being investigated in connection with that ticket-fixing scandal in the Bronx, in which up to 40 cops could be indicted. Listen as the drunk cop's buddy describes being woken up in the middle of the night by a Westchester police sergeant:
"I have one of your guys down the block," the Westchester sergeant told the drunken cop's colleague, who shared the story in a phone conversation that was secretly recorded. The Westchester sergeant had gone to the cop's house, which wasn't far from the accident scene, to get help in persuading the drunken officer to take the summonses instead of a DWI. "He is bombed—bad!"
But according to this phone call, the drunk cop "went completely berserk" when told he we would receive the summonses, and demanded to speak with his union delegate. "There is nothing that says it is DWI, it just says, 'I am fucked up and caused an accident,' " the "bombed" cop's colleague says on the recording. "There is no DWI. But he is beyond (drunk). He is bombed (and he) wants a (union) delegate here, and (insists) 'I am not signing s--t!' "
Finally, they got the sodden officer to agree to accept the slap on the wrist and pay the damages. A police source tells the Daily News, "They all agreed to keep this quiet." Which is a lucky break for the cop, because otherwise he might have had to drag his feet until he was sober enough to pass a blood test.
Tagged
cops
drunk cop
dwi
westchester
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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