Charges against Lauletta could all be dismissed
Giants rookie quarterback Kyle Lauletta pleaded guilty Tuesday to a disorderly persons offense and two traffic tickets as part of a conditional dismissal of the charges stemming from his Oct. 30 arrest in Weehawken, N.J., according to sources.
The lone original criminal charge of eluding police against Lauletta, 23, was dropped. And per Tuesday’s agreement, Lauletta will have all charges against him dropped — even those he pled guilty to — if he stays out of trouble for 12 months. Specifically, Lauletta pleaded guilty in Hudson County Superior Court in Jersey City to the disorderly persons offense of obstructing the administration of law at a motor vehicle stop, which included failure to follow the instructions of a police officer to pull over right away and failure to immediately exit his vehicle.
He also pleaded guilty in the court of Judge Paul Depascale to two traffic tickets: one for making an improper turn and another for failing to follow the instructions of a police officer.
The original Weehawken Police Department allegation that Lauletta’s reckless driving resulted in “almost striking (an) officer” was not pursued by the prosecution or included in any admission on Lauletta’s part.
Lauletta was arrested on the morning of Oct. 30 while driving a 2017 Jaguar “in a dangerous manner in heavy traffic near the Pleasant Avenue approach to Route 495.”
The Giants that day changed their typical media access schedule and did not allow the media to watch the first 15 minutes of practice, so there was no opportunity to take attendance of who was missing in the hours approaching Tuesday’s 4 p.m. trade deadline.
Then head coach Pat Shurmur was asked after practice, “Did the whole team practice today?” before the news of Lauletta’s arrest broke. And Shurmur answered: “Yeah, everybody was out here. Some guys didn’t do much or anything. Some of the guys just had wear and tear from the game.”
But the reality was Lauletta had not been at practice and had been arrested hours earlier.
Shurmur later fined and disciplined Lauletta, and he appeared in only one game in his rookie season, completing none of his five pass attempts with an interception in a Week 14 victory at Washington.