Cop was pickled
Long before S.I. crash, DWI driver plowed into deli
THE OFF-DUTY New Jersey cop at the wheel during a wrong-way fatal accident on Staten Island had been busted for drunken driving after crashing into a deli in 2011, police records reveal.
Pedro Abad, a Linden police officer, swerved off the road in a black 2010 Audi A5 and hit a bus stop sign, a street sign pole and a stop sign before slamming through the side of New Way Supermarket in Roselle, N.J., at 3:46 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2011, according to a police report.
“The vehicle put a hole completely through the building causing damage to the structure,” the report says. Abad was found unconscious with a bloody nose.
Reeking of alcohol, Abad, 27, was hospitalized and charged with driving while intoxicated and careless driving. He had a blood-alcohol content of 0.176, more than twice the legal limit.
But the charges against Abad (pictured) for the crash were ultimately dismissed, officials said. “The borough is attempting to gather more information about the case and how the charges were adjudicated,” Roselle Borough Administrator David Brown said in a statement.
“At this point, the matter is under investigation,” Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said Wednesday of the new revelations about Abad’s driving record.
Killed in Abad’s gruesome Friday crash on the West Shore Expressway were fellow Linden cop Frank Viggiano, 28, and passenger Joseph Rodriguez, 28. Another Linden cop in the car, Patrik Kudlac, 23, and Abad remain in critical but stable condition.
“He should have learned his lesson,” said Ravi Patel, 26, who co-owns the New Way Supermarket. “That’s just wrong. Look at how many lives he took.”
Rodriguez’s funeral was held Wednesday at St. Elizabeth Church in Linden. Viggiano’s funeral is planned for Thursday.
Linden Police Chief James Sarnicki has declined to comment on Abad’s troubled driving record.
“We do not want the memory of Officer Viggiano tarnished by negative publicity as we seek to comfort his family and loved ones,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Abad was charged with drunken driving following a 2013 accident in Rahway, N.J. His license was suspended for seven months in the wake of that crash.
Abad was involved in six other accidents going back to 2005, state records show.