The New Jersey police officer who was driving the car that slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer on Staten Island last week, killing a fellow officer and a friend, was captured on dashcam video two years earlier stumbling about, slurring words and struggling to comply with police commands during a drunk-driving stop.
Linden Police Officer Pedro Abad was arrested on driving under the influence charges after his car hit a parked car in Rahway on March 26, 2013. The arrest came less than two years before Friday's wrong-way crash on the West Shore Expressway that killed fellow officer Frank Viggiano and friend Joe Rodriguez. The impact also critically injured Abad, who was driving the car, and 23-year-old Patrik Kudlac, also a Linden cop.
Abad, who was at a strip club with the other two officers and Rodriguez on the night of the wreck, had posted photos of shot glasses hours before the fatal crash, and NYPD investigators have applied for warrants to test the 27-year-old's blood alcohol levels. But authorities said it was "too premature" to speculate on what caused the accident.
Dashcam video from Abad's 2013 arrest shows him leaning up against a police cruiser as he talks to officers. He appears to have trouble maintaining balance and his speech is apparently slurred.
One officer repeatedly asks the Abad to put his arms to the side and take nine steps. Abad struggles to comply, asking several times for an "Officer Webb," pointing to another officer and saying he knows him "from the academy."
Eventually, video shows, Abad attempts to take the sobriety test. He sways side to side as he takes several steps, then stops. The officer then tells Abad to put his hands behind his back and that he is under arrest for driving under the influence.
Later, records show, Abad refused a breathalyzer test.
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Abad later pleaded guilty to the offenses, and his license was suspended for eight months. A judge also ordered him to put an alcohol interlock system in his car for an additional 180 days.
He was cleared to drive without any restrictions in September 2014.
Police in Linden have not said whether Abad drove a department car during that period, but said the arrest was subject to an internal review.
The arrest wasn't Abad's only one. He was charged with DUI in Roselle in 2011, but prosecutors later dropped the charges.
He was also involved in eight other car crashes over the last decade, dating back to when he was 17. In one, in 2012, he was cited for using a cellphone while driving.
Meanwhile, mourners attended a funeral for Rodriguez Wednesday in Linden. Viggiano's viewing is scheduled for Wednesday and his funeral will take place Thursday in Linden.
