An intoxicated South Jersey police dispatcher — who sources say once lost his job as a police recruit due to alcohol — was arrested for the death of New Jersey man Friday, said police.
Richard Doherty was arrested Friday afternoon in Pleasantville and charged with aggravated manslaughter following the Feb. 6 wreck that left 29-year-old Alfonso Dickerson dead along Tilton Road near S Aloe Street in Galloway Township, New Jersey. Dickerson — a father of a 2-year-old boy — died upon impact.
Doherty was driving his 2011 Hyundai Sonata southbound when he struck Dickerson in the left lane, said investigators.
After the wreck, police arrested the 36-year-old Galloway Township man on suspicion of DWI.
Mayor John Armstrong said that Doherty had attended a party for the swearing-in of Absecon's new police chief before leaving earlier Thursday evening. Authorities confirmed that Doherty has spent 10 years as a police dispatcher in Absecon.
Doherty used to work dispatch for the Pleasantville Police Department and more than a decade ago applied to be a police officer, multiple sources with knowledge of the suspect's history told NBC10. Doherty only lasted three weeks in the academy — he was thrown out and fired after showing up drunk, said the sources.
He was named the town's employee of the quarter in Dec. 2013, reported the current of Pleasantville and Absecon. Armstrong said that Doherty was suspended without pay.
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In a strange twist, both men lived in the same apartment complex. It wasn't clear if they knew one another.
Doherty is being held at the Atlantic County Justice Facility in lieu of $200,000 cash bail.
If found guilty, he could face up to 30 years in prison.
