Police are investigating whether alcohol caused a car carrying three off-duty New Jersey police officers -- including a member of the honor guard who honored slain hero Philadelphia Police Ofc. Robert Wilson at his funeral -- to drive the wrong way down a New York City highway and crash head-on into a tractor-trailer after a visit to a strip club Friday.
An officer and a civilian were killed and two other policemen, including 27-year-old driver Pedro Abad, were critically injured.
Hours before the crash, Abad posted a photo on his Instagram account of three shot glasses filled with what he identified as "Jack Daniels Fire on the house." The post also included a caption of a toast he said he had given.
"The 3 of us, are decent people. There's a decent woman out there for each of us. Sure it's cool to be single every now and then, but I don't give a damn what ANYONE says. At the end of the day, I want a family. I want to settle down. We all do. So here's to finding that which we all hope for.''
Other images on his Instagram page include photos of him serving in the honor guard at the funeral last weekend for a Philadelphia police officer killed in the line of duty.
Abad, and 23-year-old passenger Patrik Kudlac, both Linden police officers, were listed in critical condition at hospitals on Staten Island. Linden police Capt. James Sarnicki said they have severe and extensive injuries and are fighting for their lives.
The dead were identified as 28-year-old Linden Officer Frank Viggiano and 28-year-old Joe Rodriguez, a former county employee Linden, officials said. Both were passengers in the car.
The truck driver suffered injuries that weren't believed to be life-threatening.
Video taken by a surveillance camera at a gas station shows a car traveling the wrong way on a service road minutes before the wrong-way crash on the adjacent highway. A southbound exit ramp leads from the highway onto the service road.
Gas station attendant Ramzi Abdelhaq told WABC-TV he's seen cars traveling the wrong direction on the service road before. The time stamp on the video showing the car reads 4:48 a.m. Police received a 911 call of a crash on the highway at 4:51 a.m.
One tractor-trailer swerved out of the way of the car on the West Shore Expressway on Staten Island, but a second didn't have enough time to veer away before the crash, Royster said. She said the driver of the tractor-trailer passed a blood-alcohol test and does not appear to be at fault.
Royster said the car's black box will help investigators determine how fast they were traveling.
Images of the crash scene show the truck and car smashed against the center guardrail and the car ravaged.
Sarnicki said all three officers were relatively new to the force. Viggiano was a five-year veteran, Abad was a six-year veteran and Kudlac had two years on the force.
"At this point our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Officer Frank Viggiano," he said, describing him as well-liked by everybody. "This is an unspeakable tragedy."
In his 37 years working for the department, Sarnicki said, he couldn't remember any officers being killed in the blue-collar refinery town of 41,000 residents just across the water from Staten Island.
"People are in a somber mood. I could see some officers with tears in their eyes. It is an emotional day for all of us. Like I said, we are a family and we're all hurt by this," he said. "It's tragic for people to lose their lives at such an early age, whatever the reason."
Flags in front of Linden City Hall, which are part of a war memorial surrounded by smaller American flags, were lowered to half-staff Friday morning.
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"This is devastating, devastating," said Reese Lospinoso, 57, a bartender who grew up in Linden and has lived here most of his life. "The police in Linden are looked at very, very highly. They're very well-respected in our town."
