Suspended corrections officer arrested again
A suspended Ulster County corrections officer was arrested a second time for drunken driving, authorities said.
A suspended Ulster County corrections officer was arrested again Wednesday for drunken driving and will never return to his job, Ulster County Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum said Thursday.
“(Eric V. Decker is) never going to walk into this building again as an employee of the Sheriff’s Office,” Van Blarcum said. “Right now he’s incarcerated and that’s good for him. I hope he gets the help he needs.”
Decker, 37, of Kerhonkson, was arrested at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of the Rondout Valley Middle School by Ulster County Sheriff’s deputies and was charged with the misdemeanor of driving with a blood-alcohol content exceeding 0.18 percent, more than twice the legal limit, as well as with the traffic violations of having an open container of alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle and failing to maintain lane, according to a press release.
Deputies responding to an Ulster 911 call reporting an erratic driver, saw Decker’s vehicle pull into the Rondout Valley Middle School parking lot in the town of Rochester. They said Decker placed a student who was walking in the parking lot at risk.
Decker was previously arrested by deputies on Aug. 11 and charged with misdemeanor drunken driving. He was serving an unpaid suspension from his correction officer’s job for that arrest when he was arrested for the latest offense.
Van Blarcum said he will fire Decker if he is convicted of drunken driving, but Decker could challenge his termination and request a hearing under Civil Service Law even if he is convicted.
Decker has worked at the jail since January 2004.
Decker was arraigned in the Marbletown Town Court and sent to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
If Decker were able to post bail and be released, Van Blarcum said, “I’d be worried about him. Right now it’s a good spot for him.”
Two Ulster County corrections officers were arrested in separate incidents Aug. 11, and each were suspended without pay for 30 days.
Chris C. Ferro, 49, of Hurley, and Decker, 37, face departmental charges.
Ferro is a lieutenant with the Ulster County Jail. He has been employed with the sheriff’s office since December 1988.
Dutchess County sheriff’s deputies charged Ferro with the misdemeanors of forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment following an incident at the Inn at the Falls in LaGrange. Dutchess deputies said Ferro was accused of subjecting another person to sexual contact without their consent and then refusing to let them leave.
On Aug. 11, Decker was charged with the misdemeanors of drunken driving and driving with a blood alcohol content exceeding 0.18 percent following a traffic stop on Samsonville Road in the town of Rochester.
At the time, deputies said Decker was stopped after was seen failing to use his turn signal. Deputies had been alerted to an erratic vehicle driving on the road at about 7 p.m., they said.
The criminal charges against both are pending.