Cops, cars, booze and bullets — put them all together and you get a recipe for disaster. It's a lesson the New York Police Department learned this week after three off-duty NYPD officers were linked to separate shooting incidents, each involving some drunk driving.
The bloodiest incident took place Tuesday night, when Officer Brendan Cronin allegedly fired thirteen rounds from behind the wheel of his car into a vehicle in front of him, hitting the 47-year-old driver six times. (Via WNYW)
The victim is currently in stable condition. Cronin refused to take a breathalyzer test at the scene, but one source told WCBS he was so drunk, he couldn't even remember the shooting. He was charged with assault.
Another shooting incident, thankfully with no injuries this time, took place early Saturday when NYPD Sgt. Wanda Anthony apparently fired one shot into a parked car at a New Jersey home. The New York Post reports Anthony got into a fight with her date and his wife at the home.
Anthony was pulled over for drunk driving shortly afterward. NJ.com reports she's been suspended from the force for 30 days, and is also charged with assault along with possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.
And rounding the week off for the boys in blue is Detective Jay Poggi, who is accused of accidentally shooting his partner Matt Sullivan in the wrist while showing off his firearm in a police cruiser last Thursday. New York Daily News says Poggi registered .11 on a blood alcohol test, well over New York's .08 driving limit.
So, yeah. Kind of an unsettling pattern. NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton acknowledged the NYPD might have a drinking problem in a press conference
"I personally am very disturbed about the number of incidents in recent weeks that are part of a longer-term problem of inappropriate use of alcohol." (Via WABC)
By the way, all this happened the week after three different officers were arrested for drunk driving in a 27-hour time span. But hey, at least there was no gunplay involved in those incidents, right?
