Post by Critique on Feb 2, 2007 3:05:59 GMT -5
01/31/07
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER — An off-duty Jersey City police officer who lives in Toms River was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated Sunday night after a fender bender with no injuries, police said.
By Monday morning, New York City news agencies were calling the Police Department for the details, Chief Michael G. Mastronardy said. The arrest of Thomas G. Porter, 47, of Toms River was big news mainly because it came only days after the arrest of another Jersey City policeman who was allegedly drunk and at fault in a fatal crash. That officer, Kevin Freibott, 39, lives in Middletown.
In Porter's case, he was charged after a minor parking lot accident at a Charlie Brown's restaurant in Toms River. Patrolman Eugene Bachonski and Sgt. Michael Brosnan charged Porter with driving while intoxicated and careless driving, Mastronardy said. He's an 18-year member of the Jersey City force.
Freibott is facing an aggravated manslaughter charge following a rear-end crash on the Pulaski Skyway about 11 p.m. Jan. 23.
Freibott was speeding in a Jeep Cherokee when he hit the rear of Pontiac Grand Am, police said. A 2-year-old, Juan Carlos Zelaya, and his mother were in the car. The child died Saturday night. The child's mother, Ruth Zelaya, 37, remained in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center.
Freibott surrendered to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office on Monday morning. He was released the same day on $350,000 bail, authorities said. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
It is unknown what administrative action may be taken in the Porter arrest. Freibott was suspended without pay.
Freibott was fired from the Middletown Township Police Department in 2001 after a minor accident outside an Atlantic Highlands tavern for failure to have a valid driver's license, but the state Merit System Board later ordered him reinstated.
Freibott was in "good standing" when he resigned from the department in December 2005, said Middletown Police Chief Robert Oches.
"He was not charged with other disciplinary infractions," Oches said. "He resigned in good standing and went and got a job in Jersey City."
The arrests — and a third this weekend of an off-duty captain in Wall, also on DWI charges — are not a sign that more police officers are driving drunk, said Terrence P. Farley, first assistant Ocean County prosecutor. But cops today face a liability with laws that hold them accountable if a fellow officer's offense is covered up and he then gets into another scrape, Farley said.
For law enforcement to break the law, particularly by driving drunk, "absolutely is a taboo," he added.
"People don't understand the enormity of their authority," Farley said. "Police have the authority that other people don't have. Very few people carry a gun and a badge at work, and that is why it cannot be condoned."
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/NEWS/701310326/1070/NEWS02
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER — An off-duty Jersey City police officer who lives in Toms River was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated Sunday night after a fender bender with no injuries, police said.
By Monday morning, New York City news agencies were calling the Police Department for the details, Chief Michael G. Mastronardy said. The arrest of Thomas G. Porter, 47, of Toms River was big news mainly because it came only days after the arrest of another Jersey City policeman who was allegedly drunk and at fault in a fatal crash. That officer, Kevin Freibott, 39, lives in Middletown.
In Porter's case, he was charged after a minor parking lot accident at a Charlie Brown's restaurant in Toms River. Patrolman Eugene Bachonski and Sgt. Michael Brosnan charged Porter with driving while intoxicated and careless driving, Mastronardy said. He's an 18-year member of the Jersey City force.
Freibott is facing an aggravated manslaughter charge following a rear-end crash on the Pulaski Skyway about 11 p.m. Jan. 23.
Freibott was speeding in a Jeep Cherokee when he hit the rear of Pontiac Grand Am, police said. A 2-year-old, Juan Carlos Zelaya, and his mother were in the car. The child died Saturday night. The child's mother, Ruth Zelaya, 37, remained in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center.
Freibott surrendered to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office on Monday morning. He was released the same day on $350,000 bail, authorities said. He faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
It is unknown what administrative action may be taken in the Porter arrest. Freibott was suspended without pay.
Freibott was fired from the Middletown Township Police Department in 2001 after a minor accident outside an Atlantic Highlands tavern for failure to have a valid driver's license, but the state Merit System Board later ordered him reinstated.
Freibott was in "good standing" when he resigned from the department in December 2005, said Middletown Police Chief Robert Oches.
"He was not charged with other disciplinary infractions," Oches said. "He resigned in good standing and went and got a job in Jersey City."
The arrests — and a third this weekend of an off-duty captain in Wall, also on DWI charges — are not a sign that more police officers are driving drunk, said Terrence P. Farley, first assistant Ocean County prosecutor. But cops today face a liability with laws that hold them accountable if a fellow officer's offense is covered up and he then gets into another scrape, Farley said.
For law enforcement to break the law, particularly by driving drunk, "absolutely is a taboo," he added.
"People don't understand the enormity of their authority," Farley said. "Police have the authority that other people don't have. Very few people carry a gun and a badge at work, and that is why it cannot be condoned."
www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070131/NEWS/701310326/1070/NEWS02