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Off-Duty NYPD Cop Suspended After DWI Crash On Staten Island
By
Scott Heins
Published Jun 27, 2016
Modified Jun 27, 2016
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By
Scott Heins
Published Jun 27, 2016
Modified Jun 27, 2016
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An NYPD sergeant has been suspended after he was arrested on DWI charges Sunday. Derek Gilson, 32, had been attempting to make an exit near Long View Road in Grymes Hill at roughly 1 a.m. Sunday morning when he smashed his car into a pole and ran onto a nearby lawn, the Staten Island Advance reports. He was off-duty at the time of the crash.
Gilson, who works at a Brooklyn precinct, refused to submit to a breathalyzer test after the crash. As he was apprehended, officers found that Gilson had bloodshot, watery eyes and breath reeking of alcohol.
“I made a turn and ended up in the side yard,” Gilson told the officers responding to his crash, according to a criminal complaint.
Gilson was arrested and later charged with DWI and refusal to take a breathalyzer test, according to police. The sergeant was released over the weekend following his arraignment.
Drunk driving by former and current NYPD officers is a recurring problem for the department. Between 1999 and 2010, all of the 55 serving NYPD officers charged with drunk driving pleaded down to non-felony charges such as driving while impaired or disorderly conduct, and almost all of them remained on the force.
Tagged
dwi
nypd
off duty cop
staten island
Scott Heins
Scott Heins is a freelance photo and video journalist based in New York City, and a frequent contributor to Gothamist + WNYC. His work often centers around labor rights, housing, and policing. In 2018-2019 he traveled to four states while covering a wave of public school teachers strikes, with work featured in The New York Times, The Intercept, Getty Images, Splinter, and Bloomberg Photos. Scott is a dues-paying member of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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