Post by Critique on Jan 24, 2007 23:56:38 GMT -5
January 24, 2007
www.wnbc.com/news/10833885/detail.html#
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- An off-duty Jersey City police officer involved in a car 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 and he has been suspended without pay. The accident, which happened at about 11 p.m. Tuesday on the Pulaski Skyway, 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.
Officials said they believe the mother and son are from Central America.
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 said the internal affairs division took a blood sample from Freibott to determine if he was impaired, and it has been forwarded to state police.
Freibott was initially charged with driving under the influence, and after further investigation he has been charged with assault by auto, a third-degree crime.
Freibott, a member of the Jersey City Police Department since December 2005, has been in trouble before 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.
Freibott is the second-cousin of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy.
Stan Eason, a spokesman for the city and police department, said the family relationship would not be a factor in the investigation.
"His relationship, either a cousin or the king of France, will not a play a role in the professional manner in which we are going to handle this case," Eason said.
www.wnbc.com/news/10833885/detail.html
www.wnbc.com/news/10833885/detail.html#
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- An off-duty Jersey City police officer involved in a car 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 and he has been suspended without pay. The accident, which happened at about 11 p.m. Tuesday on the Pulaski Skyway, 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.
Officials said they believe the mother and son are from Central America.
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 said the internal affairs division took a blood sample from Freibott to determine if he was impaired, and it has been forwarded to state police.
Freibott was initially charged with driving under the influence, and after further investigation he has been charged with assault by auto, a third-degree crime.
Freibott, a member of the Jersey City Police Department since December 2005, has been in trouble before 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.
Freibott is the second-cousin of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy.
Stan Eason, a spokesman for the city and police department, said the family relationship would not be a factor in the investigation.
"His relationship, either a cousin or the king of France, will not a play a role in the professional manner in which we are going to handle this case," Eason said.
www.wnbc.com/news/10833885/detail.html