Ewing police looking at OD of woman at cop’s home
TRENTON » Michael Palinczar’s after-hours party-animal lifestyle is bleeding into his work.
The veteran Trenton Police officer is under internal affairs investigation after one of his squeezes – a woman he has been publicly ogling for years – overdosed on drugs at his Ewing home requiring first responders to use Narcan to revive her, The Trentonian has learned.
Ewing Police confirmed officers were sent out to Palinczar’s Heritage Court home just before 1 a.m. July 21 for a woman having trouble breathing.
Once they arrived, they quickly learned the woman was suffering from an apparent drug overdose.
The Trentonian obtained the 911 tape of the call Palinczar made to authorities through a public records request.
In the 40-second clip, he frantically urged the emergency dispatcher to get paramedics out to his home to help his 27-year-old side piece.
“I don’t know if she’s having a hard time breathing,” he told the dispatcher, without mentioning drugs. “Please hurry up.”
While the dispatcher told the TPD cop to hold on the line, Palinczar was heard identifying the apparently passed-out woman by name and telling her to “Wake up. Wake up. Wake up.”
Cops and first responders arrived, twice hitting the woman with Narcan, a life-saving opiate reversal medication.
Palinczar told cops he believed the woman “took an unknown amount of Oxycodone,” Ewing Police Lt. Albert Rhodes said.
It’s unclear whether Palinczar saw the woman take drugs in front of him at his home.
Rhodes said no drugs were found inside Palinczar’s home.
It wasn’t clear whether the woman had a legitimate prescription for the often-abused potent painkiller that can be deadly when taken in high doses or mixed with alcohol.
Ewing Police officers are equipped with body cameras, but Rhodes said officers didn’t turn them on in this case because the woman was suffering a medical episode.
Neither the woman who suffered the overdose nor Palinczar was charged with any drug offenses because they were protected by the state’s Overdose Prevention Act, providing immunity for overdose victims and those who help them get medical attention from being prosecuted.
But TPD’s internal policies on police on- and off-duty behavior are much broader, so the situation at Palinczar’s home could fall under conduct unbecoming of an officer.
The probe may center on the TPD cop’s action after he called 911.
Palinczar, who makes more than $104,000 a year after being with the TPD force for more than 17 years, only stuck around long enough for Ewing cops to speak to him but boogied from the home soon after, sources said.
By that time, township officers had given TPD a heads up about the situation unfolding at Palinczark’s house, sources said.
And TPD internal affairs detectives were dispatched out to Palinczark’s home to interview him about what happened. When they got there, he was nowhere in sight, sources said.
Palinczar has been reassigned to desk duty while TPD looks into the matter.
TPD police spokesman Capt. Stephen Varn wouldn’t comment on the IA investigation or say what punishment Palinczar may face if he’s found to have violated department policies.
Varn wouldn’t disclose whether Palinczar was drug tested as part of the IA investigation.
Per state Attorney General guidelines, veteran cops may “only be tested for drugs if reasonable suspicion exists that they are using drugs or if they have been chosen as part of a regulated random.”
Rhodes, the Ewing Police spokesman, said the report didn’t explain why the woman was at Palinczar’s home.
But the TPD officer has a reputation in the department of being a ladies man.
The globe-trotting Palinczar posted numerous pictures of himself with different women on his Facebook page.
Palinczar put up a New Year’s photo of himself with his arms wrapped around a stunning dark-haired woman in 2012.
Somebody posted, “New flavor of the month? Lol,” in the comments section. TPD Sgt. Anthony Manzo responded, “No, that’s old flavor.”
Palinczar was also apparently involved with the woman who overdosed at his house. He had publicly expressed interest in her as far back as May 2013, cat-calling her underneath one of her Facebook pics.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about. Like whoa! You got me ‘feeling some kind of way. Lol,” the TPD cop remarked, according to social media posts dug up by The Trentonian.
This isn’t the first time Palinczar, who didn’t respond to a request for comment through Facebook messenger, has been looked at by internal affairs.
The Trentonian reported in 2013 he was investigated by IA detectives after tickets he wrote to the La Guira bar owner mysteriously went missing from the court system.
Owner Martin Rodriguez said he felt he was being targeted for police intimidation after his cameras caught city cops using excessive force during arrests at his establishment in February 2012.
One officer was hit with criminal charges and lost her job after taking pretrial intervention for one of the scuffles captured by La Guira’s camera system.
It’s unclear if Palinczar, who has been described as a heady cop but with lots of personal baggage, was cleared or any wrongdoing or if he was disciplined in that IA investigation into the ticket-writing.
Outside of work, Palinczar has bizarre weird interests.
The Wiffle ball aficionado has been branded the “The Czar of Wiffle Ball.” But it’s his hardpartying ways that have raised eyebrows in the department.
At least once, Palinczar needed to attend a rehab facility for help with his drinking problem, sources said.
There have also been concerns about the crowd Palinczar keeps outside of work, sources said.
Some women he has been involved with have allegedly jacked his wallet and racked up charges on his credit cards. His luxury car has also been taken out joyriding while he was passed out drunk, sources said.
“He deals with some sleazy a—people,” one source said. “Some of the women, you don’t bring home to mom. Not even through the back door. He’s a good cop when he’s sober. When he goes home, it’s a whole different ball game. You can’t do what you want.”