Post by Critique on Feb 5, 2007 13:03:19 GMT -5
02/3/07
BY ALEX BIESE AND ERIK LARSEN
He was let go 15 minutes before DWI count
Wall police Capt. Bernard Sullivan, whose blood-alcohol content authorities said was recorded as more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over in Wall, had been stopped 15 minutes earlier by Manasquan police and was let go.
At 12:20 a.m. on Jan. 27, Sullivan was stopped on Route 71 near Seventh Avenue in Sea Girt, according to Manasquan police, who released a video of the motor-vehicle stop Friday. The footage had been requested by the Asbury Park Press under the state's Open Public Records Act.
The video, recorded by a dashboard-mounted camera in a patrol car, shows Manasquan Patrolman Thomas Morton radioing to his dispatcher that he is stopping a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe sport-utility vehicle, according to Manasquan Detective Sgt. Jacob T. Kleinknecht.
In the video, Morton reads to the dispatcher Sullivan's license plate number, steps out of his patrol car and approaches the driver's side window of Sullivan's vehicle. There is a brief exchange between the two men lasting about 15 seconds. Sullivan is never seen in the video, and there is no audible dialogue between the men.
Morton then returns to his patrol car, and Sullivan drives off, headed north on Route 71.
Kleinknecht said he was unable to elaborate further on the video and referred all additional questions to Manasquan Police Chief Daniel Scimeca, who was unavailable Friday to discuss the motor-vehicle stop.
Sullivan, 41, of Belmar Boulevard, Wall, was stopped about 12:35 a.m. while traveling west on that road near his apartment by Wall Patrolman Todd Verrecchia.
The results of Sullivan's two Breathalyzer tests taken at Wall police headquarters resulted in blood-alcohol level readings of 0.19 and 0.20, Wall police Capt. David Morris said Friday. The legal threshold in New Jersey is 0.08. Sullivan was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, disregard of marked lanes and failure to observe traffic, according to the police report of the incident.
In his police report, Verrecchia, who was traveling north on Route 35, wrote that he saw a car run a red light at the intersection of 16th Avenue and Route 35 and proceed across four lanes of Route 35 onto Belmar Boulevard, nearly causing a collision with another vehicle on Route 35.
The motorist was driving on the wrong side of Belmar Boulevard, according to Verrecchia's report. The patrolman pulled him over near Marconi Road, and recognized him as Sullivan.
When Verrecchia asked Sullivan to turn the car off, Sullivan replied, "Are you ——— kidding me?" When Verrecchia asked a second time, Sullivan said, "I live 200 yards up the road; you can follow me," according to the report.
During an emergency meeting Tuesday, the Wall Township Committee voted to rescind a resolution naming Sullivan to replace Chief Roy Hall. Sullivan was scheduled to have taken over Thursday.
Capt. David Morris is now managing the force's day-to-day operations. Morris and Sullivan both were among the five candidates to replace Hall, Wall Township Administrator Joseph Verruni has said.
James Fagen, Sullivan's attorney with a firm based in Freehold, declined to comment Friday.
Roger J. McLaughlin, township attorney, could not be reached for comment Friday.
This is not the first time that a drunken-driving arrest has troubled the department.
In 1993, four Wall police officers were disciplined for their roles in a department cover-up in another case that led to the early retirement of then-Chief Robert B. Clawson. The disciplinary actions stemmed from a failed attempt to hide the drunken-driving arrest of Barry Jost of Neptune, a drinking companion of Clawson and the nephew of then-Mayor Wesley W. Jost.
Clawson persuaded the arresting officer, Bernard Lynch, to destroy all records of the arrest, then reconsidered four days later and directed that Barry Jost be charged. Lynch informed the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office of the cover-up after Clawson suggested that Lynch perjure himself in court.
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BY ALEX BIESE AND ERIK LARSEN
He was let go 15 minutes before DWI count
Wall police Capt. Bernard Sullivan, whose blood-alcohol content authorities said was recorded as more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over in Wall, had been stopped 15 minutes earlier by Manasquan police and was let go.
At 12:20 a.m. on Jan. 27, Sullivan was stopped on Route 71 near Seventh Avenue in Sea Girt, according to Manasquan police, who released a video of the motor-vehicle stop Friday. The footage had been requested by the Asbury Park Press under the state's Open Public Records Act.
The video, recorded by a dashboard-mounted camera in a patrol car, shows Manasquan Patrolman Thomas Morton radioing to his dispatcher that he is stopping a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe sport-utility vehicle, according to Manasquan Detective Sgt. Jacob T. Kleinknecht.
In the video, Morton reads to the dispatcher Sullivan's license plate number, steps out of his patrol car and approaches the driver's side window of Sullivan's vehicle. There is a brief exchange between the two men lasting about 15 seconds. Sullivan is never seen in the video, and there is no audible dialogue between the men.
Morton then returns to his patrol car, and Sullivan drives off, headed north on Route 71.
Kleinknecht said he was unable to elaborate further on the video and referred all additional questions to Manasquan Police Chief Daniel Scimeca, who was unavailable Friday to discuss the motor-vehicle stop.
Sullivan, 41, of Belmar Boulevard, Wall, was stopped about 12:35 a.m. while traveling west on that road near his apartment by Wall Patrolman Todd Verrecchia.
The results of Sullivan's two Breathalyzer tests taken at Wall police headquarters resulted in blood-alcohol level readings of 0.19 and 0.20, Wall police Capt. David Morris said Friday. The legal threshold in New Jersey is 0.08. Sullivan was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, disregard of marked lanes and failure to observe traffic, according to the police report of the incident.
In his police report, Verrecchia, who was traveling north on Route 35, wrote that he saw a car run a red light at the intersection of 16th Avenue and Route 35 and proceed across four lanes of Route 35 onto Belmar Boulevard, nearly causing a collision with another vehicle on Route 35.
The motorist was driving on the wrong side of Belmar Boulevard, according to Verrecchia's report. The patrolman pulled him over near Marconi Road, and recognized him as Sullivan.
When Verrecchia asked Sullivan to turn the car off, Sullivan replied, "Are you ——— kidding me?" When Verrecchia asked a second time, Sullivan said, "I live 200 yards up the road; you can follow me," according to the report.
During an emergency meeting Tuesday, the Wall Township Committee voted to rescind a resolution naming Sullivan to replace Chief Roy Hall. Sullivan was scheduled to have taken over Thursday.
Capt. David Morris is now managing the force's day-to-day operations. Morris and Sullivan both were among the five candidates to replace Hall, Wall Township Administrator Joseph Verruni has said.
James Fagen, Sullivan's attorney with a firm based in Freehold, declined to comment Friday.
Roger J. McLaughlin, township attorney, could not be reached for comment Friday.
This is not the first time that a drunken-driving arrest has troubled the department.
In 1993, four Wall police officers were disciplined for their roles in a department cover-up in another case that led to the early retirement of then-Chief Robert B. Clawson. The disciplinary actions stemmed from a failed attempt to hide the drunken-driving arrest of Barry Jost of Neptune, a drinking companion of Clawson and the nephew of then-Mayor Wesley W. Jost.
Clawson persuaded the arresting officer, Bernard Lynch, to destroy all records of the arrest, then reconsidered four days later and directed that Barry Jost be charged. Lynch informed the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office of the cover-up after Clawson suggested that Lynch perjure himself in court.
app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070203/NEWS/702030373&GID=AuSurNznWwuuqmOJPjdcNI/CSRsW1sh5nn8kxeW0JEU=