The spirits of the law
Rookie nabbed in DWI chase whines, ‘I’m a cop!’
A rookie cop from New Jersey was busted for drunken driving — and got caught trying to use her badge to weasel out of the arrest in embarrassing dashcam footage made public Wednesday.
Stephanie Roggina, who had just been hired as an officer with the Scotch Plains Police Department, led police on a brief chase on Aug. 26, 2016.
She repeatedly slurred, “Are you serious?” when she was pulled over.
“I’m a cop,” Roggina insisted to Readington Lt. Scott Crater after being handcuffed and read her Miranda rights. “I work in Scotch Plains. My number is 140.”
Crater responded, “Well, then, you should know better, right?”
The drunken debacle began at around 11:30 p.m. when Crater, 26, first approached Roggina’s Ford Edge, which was stopped at a stop sign for 90 seconds at County Route 629 and Hillcrest Road, even though there was no traffic coming.
Crater flipped on his lights. His dashcam then caught Roggina pulling off to the right and tearing down the road.
The rogue officer swerved in and out of the lane and struck a guardrail before finally pulling over on the side of the road after the one-minute chase.
“You don’t take off from a cop,” Crater told Roggina. “Are you out of your mind?”
“I didn’t take off from a f--king cop,” she responded. “I was not running from you.”
Crater then told Roggina she had just crashed her SUV, which she didn’t believe. “Are you serious?” she asked. “I’m not joking,” Crater responded.
Roggina then asked the lieutenant if he wanted to see her badge, telling him, “I work in Scotch Plains.”
“Well, you’re drunk,” Crater replied.
At another point, Roggina appeared to name-drop her former boss, retired Scotch Plains Police Chief Brian Mahoney — who himself was caught on a dashcam video during an alleged DUI crash a month later.
“Do you know Brian?” she asked Crater.
Roggina’s arrest had been previously reported, but the dra- matic recording was posted by The Trentonian newspaper, which had sued to make it public.
Roggina, who joined the Scotch Plains department in June 2016 — just two months before the incident — was immediately suspended without pay, according to the paper.
She was charged with a slew of offenses, including driving while intoxicated, eluding and reckless driving.
She was indicted on one count of resisting arrest but pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of disorderly conduct.
Her no-jail sentence included paying a small fine.
The outcome of the other charges and her current status with the department are not clear. leustachewich@nypost.com