PARK RIDGE, N.J.—An officer on patrol Oct. 20 just after 1 a.m. was driving along Kinderkamack Road northbound, just south of Perryland Street, when he observed a vehicle traveling south on Kinderkamack Road crossing over Park Avenue with the green light.
The vehicle then drifted to its right, at which point it hopped the curb and struck a county traffic sign, knocking it over, and then it hit a small tree.
The officer then made a U-turn in the intersection of Kinderkamack Road and Park Avenue and notified Central Dispatch of the crash.
After turning around, the officer reports, he saw the gray Nissan Altima, bearing New York registration back up and re-enter Kinderkamack Road, now headed south, with smoke emanating from the radiator area.
The officer pulled the driver over on Perryland Street.
“I exited my patrol vehicle and walked up to the driver’s side window, which was open. I asked the driver… if he was OK and what had happened,” the officer reports.
The defendant, from Nyack, New York, stated he “lost track of time,” by which he explained he got out of work at a bar in Hillsdale, and that was where he was coming from.
He had difficulty formulating his thoughts and had difficulty explaining what had occurred.
“I tried to explain that he was traveling in the opposite direction of the … bar, but he was still adamant that he was coming from work. I then asked him what happened, and he stated that he hit a sign. I asked him if he had been drinking, which he said that he was not. He later admitted after exiting the vehicle that he had one drink,” the report reads.
The officer said he took note of the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from the interior of the Nissan, whose driver’s eyes were watery and bloodshot and whose hands were moving slowly and fumbling with his documents when asked for them.
The defendant had a small cut to his lower lip. He was asked if he needed to get checked out at a hospital after he exited the vehicle, which he declined.
He provided an Arizona driver’s license and continued to look for his documentation.
The officer conducted field sobriety tests, which the defendant was unable to complete successfully.
According to the police report, the defendant also was taking prescription medication. The defendant was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and his car was towed.
At headquarters, officers drafted and issued the following summonses: DWI, careless driving, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and failure to maintain lane, all answerable to the Pascack Joint Municipal Court on Nov. 21.
At 3 a.m. the defendant’s girlfriend came to retrieve him. Police notified the county to have the sign repaired and replaced.