Posted on 01/23/2008 7:32:45 AM PST by mirkwood
Officer admits to drunken driving
By TOM HOWELL JR.
thowell@njherald.com
NEWTON — A Wayne police officer avoided criminal prosecution Tuesday by admitting he was drunk when he drove into two Sparta police cars on Route 15 two months ago.
Fifteen-year Patrolman Alex-ander Sanagorksi, 38, of Sparta, caused minor injuries to Sparta Sgt. John Lamon and Patrolman Scott Elig when his Ford Explorer veered off the northbound lane and into the median at 2:28 a.m. on Nov. 17, according to police.
The officers had been looking for the Explorer based on reports from Jefferson police about a possibly intoxicated driver. There is no indication Sanagorski intended to hit the patrol cars, police have said.
He will keep his $98,566-per-year job in Wayne, but he has been reassigned to work inside the station for seven months, Detective Capt. Paul Ireland said.
Sanagorski had been charged with two counts of assault by auto, a fourth-degree crime.
On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge N. Peter Conforti allowed Sanagorski to enter the Pre-Trial Intervention program — a form of probation that diverts first-time offenders from actual prosecution — to resolve the assault charges. He will be on PTI probation for 18 months.
Sanagorski did, however, plead guilty to driving while intoxicated, a traffic offense.
He must forfeit his driver's license for seven months, serve five days in the sheriff's labor program, attend the Intoxicated Driver Resource Center's 48-hour program and pay more than $600 in fines, Conforti said.
Defense attorney Joseph Afflitto declined to comment on the sentence after court.
Sanagorski was off-duty at the time of the accident, and the level of the charges fell below the standard for suspension under the state attorney general's guidelines.
Sanagorski had consumed four beers and two shots before driving on the night of the crash, he told the court.
He registered a blood alcohol reading of .12 percent and struck the patrol cars at about 30 mph, according to Assistant Prosecutor Michael Briegel.
The pair of Sparta officers, who had complaints of pain, were treated and released from Newton Memorial Hospital, according to police.
Amazing.
I'm not in law enforcement, but if I drunkenly drove into two police cruisers, I would lose my job for cause.
The taxpayers who are subsidizing this guy to the tune of $100G a year should be outraged.
BTW, NJ police forces do not normally consider job applications from anyone who has a DUI.
So he probably couldn't even be hired by the force that is paying him all that money.
Where is one of those cops whining about not respect.
I bet you this guy was a complete pr**k to anyone he caught DUI. I guess he is above the law, or at least, deserves preferential treatment because he wears blue. I don’t think anyone’s surprised at the lenient sentence.
Had he not struck other police vehicles, injuring other cops, I wonder (not really...) whether he would have been arrested if caught DUI.
$98,000 to drive around looking for bad drivers and drug dealers, do they pay him on commission?
Membership has its privileges...
Somehow I doubt I’d get off with fines and probation if I drunkenly drove into two police cars and injured the officers in them.
I like how they make his reassignment to a desk job look like part of his punishment, when really it’s just doing him a favor by keeping him from having to drive for the time his license is suspended.
0.12 - that’s pretty buzzed. He claims 4 beers and 2 shot. He had to have drank that on an empty stomach, and in a relatively short period of time.
Nope. My guess is that he'd "flash the tin" and be either sent on his way or given a ride home. Membership has its privileges.
Can anyone, anywhere, recall a story about a cop arrested for DUI when it didn’t involve a crash and/or injury?
I can’t. I have seen several stories about drunk cops arrested after they crashed, but none, zero, ever, about a DUI when there was no crash involved.
Well, and you’re not (AFAIK) a cop, either - they always take care of their own.
The guy’s lucky - in Canada a DUI is a criminal charge in and of itself. Which I think is actually a little harsh for a first-time offender who’s not way over the limit, but that’s the law.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.