WITNESS: Drunk Driver Who Says He's A NYPD Officer Crashed Into FDNY Vehicle - Cops Let Him Walk Away

By BoroPark24 Staff

A Boro Park driver is calling for accountability after he says he saw a car, driven by a man who identified himself as an officer of the NYPD's 71st Precinct, run a red light, drive head-on against traffic and slam into an FDNY vehicle - and that the officers who responded let the driver go without ever speaking to him.

The witness says that around 5:00 AM he was driving down 65th Street from 18th Avenue toward 19th Avenue when he saw a car go through a red light. On the next block, he says, the same car was traveling on the wrong side of the double yellow lines, straight toward oncoming traffic. "Luckily there were no cars at that time," he said.

At the next light the car moved back into its lane and stopped in the middle of the street, about 200 feet from the traffic light, where it stayed for at least three green-light cycles. After about two minutes, the driver took off again toward 23rd Avenue.

"Once he got to 23rd Avenue he was traveling at speeds over 40 mph, and suddenly - boom," the witness said. The car smashed into an FDNY paratransit vehicle, not a fire truck. The impact was so strong, he says, that the car spun out and the FDNY vehicle was pushed into two parked cars. Four vehicles were involved. The witness says the car came within feet of hitting him and calls the scene "very, very traumatizing."

He says he jumped out right away to check on the driver, who first claimed he had fallen asleep. After a minute of talking, the driver allegedly admitted - to the witness and a second bystander, on video - that he had been drinking. The witness says the man said he is an NYPD officer from the 71st Precinct, told them that responding officers should shut off their body cams because "it's not going to be good for him," and asked for their help. The witness says it was clear the driver was drunk. 911 was called.

Then, the witness says, came the second shock. When NYPD officers arrived, they told everyone to back off and were "extremely rude." Asked for their names and badge numbers, they gave them but grew angrier, ordered everyone onto the sidewalk and spoke to no one. The witness says that as the 911 caller and the person who saw the crash, he repeatedly tried, on video, to speak to the officers. They refused, he says, once they understood the driver was a fellow officer.

EMS checked the driver, who spent a couple of minutes in the ambulance. He was then let go. The car, not drivable, was towed, and the driver went home. According to the witness, the driver was not arrested.

The witness went to the 62nd Precinct to get the names and badge numbers of the responding officers. He says the desk sergeant told him the officers on scene determined the driver wasn't drunk. "How can they determine that when they never even knew to look out for it?" he says he answered. "I was the caller. They never even spoke to me. I had clear proof of the guy admitting on camera that he's drunk."

The witness says he has video of the car driving the wrong way, video of the alleged admission, photos of the scene and damage, and photos of the driver's 71st Precinct NYPD plaque. He says there should be accountability, and that refusing to look at the evidence because the driver is an officer is a scandal.