NYC Cops Drive Drunk, Keep Their Jobs

by Te-Ping Chen · 2010-03-08 12:17:00 UTC
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Whether you're a truck driver or a lifeguard, if you're caught drinking, odds are good that you'll wind up losing your job -- right? Well, except, that is, if you're a New York City cop.

That's what today's edition of New York Daily News reports, in a story which finds that since 1999, fully 55 active-duty cops have been charged with drunk driving while serving on the force. All of them pleaded down to nonfelony charges -- and almost all of them kept their jobs.

On further inspection, the thin blue line starts to look wobblier and wobblier. At least one case included that of a sergeant who "seriously injured" passengers in another car. Another included a cop who was charged with resisting arrest. What's more, in at least four cases, the NYPD had no problem allowing cops with prior drunken-driving convictions onto the force.

Here's just a sampling of some of the recent headlines that have bruised the force's reputation. In September, one liquored-up officer ran down the Brooklyn daughter of a preacher, as she left a Flatlands wedding in the company of her 5-year-old god-daughter. Both the officer -- later found "reeking of alcohol" -- and his passengers (including a fellow-off-duty cop) absconded as the woman lay dying at the scene. (The officer's Facebook page boasted the slogan: "DRINK UP LIFE IS TOO SHORT!!!" Not making this up.)

The next month, Detective Kevin Spellman was busted for drunk driving after his night shift, when he mowed over a Bronx grandmother (while driving a government-owned Chevrolet Impala). The woman, a 67-year-old Albanian immigrant with nine grandchildren, was pushing a shopping cart through the street while collecting recyclable cans and bottles. (The officer refused to take a breathalyzer test at the scene.)

Cops that are charged with drunk-driving misdemeanors or violations generally get to keep their jobs -- slapped only with a possible suspension, loss of vacation days, or time on probation. There's also no policy that requires police to submit to sobriety tests.

Cue talk of bad apples -- and of course, in a force numbering some 30,000 people, we are talking about what amounts to a few bad (deadly, reprehensible) apples here. But as the Daily News reports, it's more than that, too -- it's the institutional unwillingness to react to such cases that should leave New Yorkers truly outraged.

Photo Credit: Tijs Zwinkels

Te-Ping Chen Te-Ping Chen is a freelance writer and U.S. Truman Scholar whose writing has appeared in the Nation Magazine, the South China Morning Post magazine, Le Soir, and Slate.com.
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