Former Hamilton cop charged with lewdness
HAMILTON » A retired Hamilton policeman recovering from double knee replacement surgery said he took an opioid-based painkiller and consumed alcohol several hours later — a risky move that led to abnormal behavior and what he calls “the biggest mistake of my life.”
Robert T. “Bob” Miktus, 59, has been charged with lewdness on allegations he was standing naked outside his home last Friday and “performing a lewd and offensive act.”
Miktus denies the lewdness charge but admitted he was “naked in the woods” and that police gave him a ride to a medical crisis unit. He later received a summons in the mail citing him with lewdness, a disorderly persons offense, he said.
Miktus, who underwent double knee replacement surgery about six weeks ago, said he took medically prescribed OxyContin last Friday morning and then went to physical therapy. But the therapy session aggravated his pain, and Miktus in the afternoon decided to drink “a few shots” of Fireball cinnamon whiskey, he said.
“I foolishly drank a few shots of Fireball and it messed me all up,” Miktus said Wednesday in an interview with The Trentonian. “I did not consider that I had taken the OxyContin that morning. I was just trying to loosen up my joints.”
OxyContin is a potent, prescription-based painkiller that is “basically slow-release heroin,” according to Los Angeles-based Narconon International. Anyone taking opioids should avoid alcoholic beverages, particularly because the combination of drugs and booze could lead to serious and potentially fatal consequences.
Medical experts say the combination of alcohol and opioids can lead to abnormal behavior or even death. Opioids slow down the organs in the body. And although the initial consumption of alcohol can be stimulating, it too is a depressant that slows down organs in the body. So, mixing alcohol and opioids can slow a person’s breathing rate and reduce the amount of oxygen in the brain, which could lead to respiratory problems, fainting, depression, lack of coordination, brain damage, coma, or even death.
“Lack of oxygen to the brain can result in abnormal behavior,” Dr. Indra Cidambi, medical director at the Center for Network Therapy in Middlesex, said Wednesday. “That’s the only way I can explain why he would’ve been running around naked.”
Dr. Cidambi does not know Miktus, but she shared her comments as a caution to others who may mix alcohol and drugs.
“In general, no prescription medication should be mixed with
alcohol,” she said.
The allegations
Hamilton Police were detailed to the 100 block of Erie Avenue about 1:45 p.m. last Friday on a report of “a naked white male approximately 40 years old with brown hair,” police said Wednesday in a press release. “Upon their arrival, officers met with the caller who reported he observed a naked white male standing across the street from his residence performing a lewd and offensive act.”
Officers later identified the naked male as Miktus, who retired from the Hamilton Police Division in January 2014 as a ranking detective sergeant.
Erie Avenue resident Zye Fountain, 19, said he is the 9-1-1 caller who witnessed the lewdness with his own eyes. He said he videorecorded the transgression with his smartphone and provided The Trentonian with three videos, one of which appears to show a naked white male wearing only black socks and black shoes running into a wooded area after fondling himself.
“It’s disgusting. The dude was in front of my house,” Fountain said Wednesday in an interview with The Trentonian. “He was fully naked. The only thing he had on was black socks and black shoes. He was masturbating right there. He wasn’t just staring. He was playing with himself.”
Fountain said he would be willing to testify against Miktus in a court of law. “He looked like he was really confused,” Fountain said of Miktus. “It looked like he was whacked out in his eyes.”
Miktus put on clothes before Hamilton Police arrived on scene. The retired policeman downplayed the incident from a lawenforcement perspective, saying, “It is not a criminal thing. It is an overmedication thing.”
Miktus lives on the 200 block of Elmore Avenue near Erie Avenue in Hamilton’s Mercerville neighborhood, according to property records. He had a storied career on the Hamilton Police force and also previously served a stint with the Trenton Police Department.
In June 2004, Miktus helped Officer Nicholas Avanzato deliver a baby in Hamilton Square — a feel-good story that made big headlines in The Trentonian.