Officer Kevin Freibott is Arrested

[WaTcHeR]

Kevin Freibott

01.24.2007 - JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- An off-duty Jersey City police officer involved in a motor vehicle accident that critically injured a woman and her 2-year-old child has been arrested for drunken driving, police said Wednesday.

Authorities charged Officer Kevin Freibott with drunken driving following the accident. The accident, at about 11 p.m. Tuesday, left Ruth Zelaya and her son critically injured.

The woman was admitted to the intensive care unit of Jersey City Medical Center. The child was being treated at University Hospital in Newark.

The accident was being investigated by police department's accident investigation and internal affairs units and the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, said Jersey City police spokesman Lt. Edgar Martinez.

Police Chief Thomas Comey scheduled a 2:30 p.m. news conference to discuss the case.

The accident Tuesday was not the first time Freibott has been in trouble over a traffic accident.

He 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.

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[WaTcHeR]

MIDDLETOWN - A former township police officer faces an aggravated manslaughter charge following the death of a 2-year-old boy, who passed away Saturday night after an accident he allegedly caused earlier in the week.

Kevin Freibott, 39, a Middletown resident who is currently a Jersey City police officer, turned himself in early Monday morning to the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office. The manslaughter charge carries a 30-year prison term.

Juan Carlos Zelaya passed away after suffering injuries he sustained on the Pulaski Skyway at around 11 p.m. Jan. 23 while riding in a Pontiac Grand Am driven by his mother, 37-year-old Ruth Zelaya, who remains in critical condition at Jersey City Medical Center. Freibott reportedly struck the pair while driving his Jeep Cherokee.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio said the accident was due to a combination of things.

"Mr. Freibott was intoxicated and was traveling at a high rate of speed, probably somewhere around 70 to 75 mph," DeFazio said Thursday. "Obviously, he was well above the speed limit and he rear-ended the car in the right lane of the skyway."

Originally, Freibott was charged with driving while intoxicated and assault by auto and posted $50,000 bail. Upon surrendering to authorities he was ordered held on $350,000 bail. The police force has since suspended him without pay.

Freibott was originally fired from the Middletown force in 2001 after an accident outside of an Atlantic Highlands tavern. He was charged at the time with failure to have a valid driver's license, but was eventually reinstated. He resigned four years later and took a position in Jersey City.

DeFazio said the investigation is still ongoing. Attempts to reach Freibott at his Delaware Avenue residence were unsuccessful.

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