SCHENECTADY -- A 24-year-old city police officer was arrested for DWI over the weekend after he allegedly hit a tree with his father's car and left the scene of the accident.
Jonathan C. Haigh was charged with driving while intoxicated/first offense and leaving the scene of an accident in the incident that happened around 5 a.m. Saturday in the city while the officer was off duty, Assistant Police Chief Patrick Laguire said.
Laguire said Haigh crashed into a tree near the corner of Rugby Road and Wendell Avenue during the snowstorm, and a plow driver stopped to help him. Laguire said the plow driver suspected Haigh was drunk, and when Haigh drove away, the plow driver took down Haigh's license plate number and called police.
The license plate was traced back to Haigh's father's car. Police went to Haigh's home in Rotterdam, where his parents also live, and was woken up and given a field sobriety test, Laguire said. When Haigh was given a Breathlyzer test at police headquarters on Liberty Street around 6 a.m., his blood alcohol reading was 0.11 - above the 0.08 legal limit to drive, Laguire said.
Haigh is now suspended without pay for the next 30 days while the department does an internal investigation. He will be arraigned in city court Monday morning.
A phone call to what appeared to be his residence wasn't immediately returned Sunday.
Haigh was the first to be hired at the same time as a sibling, his brother Christopher, in January 2008.
At that time, Mayor Brian U. Stratton and Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett held a press conference with the new recruits and let them know that the unethical and criminal behavior of past officers would no longer be tolerated.
"The Mayor and I remain committed ... to rebuilding this department overall with men and women who will exemplify nothing less than the standards of excellence and professional conduct that the citizens of this city expect and deserve," Bennett said then in a statement.
Reach Lauren Stanforth at 454-5697 or lstanforth@timesunion.com.
My friend always sends me these articles, too. He works for a large corporation in a job holding some responsibility. He likes to paraphrase these stories in such a way to explain that if he were arrested for the slightest of these things, his lucrative career would summarily end.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
A phone call to what appeared to be his residence wasn't immediately returned Sunday.
APPEARED TO BE HIS RESIDENCE??? No body knows where he lives????
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
How can people in Schenectady even think to hold any respect for the members of the Police Department? One or two bad apples, you can replace. Half a dozen or so, you need to dump the whole basket.
DV's dems know how to pick them don't they! The dems are the "best" thing to happen to the city. More and more and more and more and more and more cops in big trouble. Illegally giving a department head overtime pay. Rewarding a pair of big time tax delinquents with a quarter of a million dollars without demanding they pay their back taxes. A guy goes to the police station to tell them his brother lived in a burned out building, hasn't heard from the brother since the fire, told them the car hasn't been moved and the police ignore him, don't even bother to breathe a word to the fire dept, and lo and behold, the brother is found...dead. Making financially struggling people pay the property and school taxes for the rich, but never give the struggling homeowners a break. SPend millions of tax dollars on new buildings for rich business people, but a little peeling paint on the homes of the financially struggling people and the city penalizes them. Slumlord tax delinquent has numerous code violations, owes back taxes, and the dems don't even go after him, and then when his place has a fire, the taxpayers are going to pay for having it demolished because the city never made sure he had insurnace, oh, they don't do rental inspections on the slumlords. Ever increasing crime. Ever increasing taxes. Ever lowering vital services. Ever increasing vacant houses. Graduation rate of high school going down, newer lows as the years go on. Department heads who have absolutely no clue what taxpayers go through because they live outside the city and don't pay the city's high taxes (but they keep asking for increasing budgets every year). A mayor who tries to sneak a humongous raise to himself in a budget without anyone knowing. Un f*g believeable
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
Part of the far left coalition that runs this county. Nothing will happen.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Working together works! He was part of the new crew that was going to turn around the Department? Nothing changes.
The Commissioner must be fired. It's obvious he has done nothing. Everything remains in free fall. The alleged news conference should have been his last straw. More blaming the victim. Nothing is anyone's fault and no one responsible for anything. These DEMS cannot be thrown out of City Hall fast enough.
It's just a Schenectady police officer trying to do his best to pay for next years free cab rides home for the residents of the county. So, what's the problem? He'll probably get a commendation.
Ok so twice this (young) year we had the PD do the right thing and arrest their own...
I think it is ridiculous to slam the entire PD and the police leadership for this.
Police officers are humans and err just like the rest of us...
It's a bit hypocritical to praise them when they put their lives on the line - like the officer whose car was slammed into head on near Rite Aid on Brandywine... Or caught the guy attempting to kidnap a child to rape (and maybe worse) in Vale park.... And then slam them all when one or two or five make mistakes (some massive)
For all you that complain about what is happening to society - especially here in Schenectady (and I am one of those people complaining)... The police department are dealing with the dregs of humanity every day - and yes risking their lives to do so....
Ok so twice this (young) year we had the PD do the right thing and arrest their own...
I think it is ridiculous .................(and I am one of those people complaining)... The police department are dealing with the dregs of humanity every day - and yes risking their lives to do so....
They deserve our support.
(The PBA however, remains to be a pinhead.)
You really do have a point there. It's reflective of the very very bad leadership in the city. If the city had good leadership, it would attract honest, good, working people with decent incomes to buy homes and move in here. But like I said, not even plummeting sale prices, the record low mortgage rates, and the president's tax giveaways were able to attract people to buy homes in the city.
Because the leadership of the city is attracting only the "dregs of humanity" to move into the city
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
come on Jack, no one is saying that police are 'bad' here.....just their choice of actions are.
The point that they risk their lives is a no brainer, but a job they 'choose' knowing the risks going in. They also get paid a decent buck with great benefits with the option of pension padding.
As far as dealing with the 'dregs of humanity'.......they didn't take this job to deal with the 'angels of mercy'.
OH and as a side note.......the city cops can thank the hand that feeds them for the 'dregs of humanity'. It is that 'hand' that has made schenectady the welfare capital of the world. It is that 'hand' that offers the most lucrative welfare package in the state. And that same hand that has DA's that opt for plea deals over incarceration!! IMHO of course.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The PO's that make a ton of money - aside from the ones sleeping at their "friends"...
From what I can tell, do not have it easy. Most of us online here regardless of political persuasion... Do not live in filth, beat our wives/gf's, smell horrible, or carry deadly communicable diseases.
However many of the people they have to deal with every day, do... And they are disrespectful and dangerous to boot.
No doubt there have been police officers who have become corrupt... There's at least one officer who has been arrested numerous times.
While I have never lost a loved one to a drunk driver, I'm going to hold off on throwing stones at this particular police officer because we all do make mistakes. And yes, he should be held to a higher standard.
But he who is without sin...
And yeah I'm with you guys that the insanity that is our ridiculous entitlement system is what has driven, for decades, the possibility for zero personal responsibility among some in our society. And the outrageous taxation situation in this city contributes to people leaving, making the system that much worse.
My eyes are open on that.
But there are some good police officers out there - and it's gotta kill them to see people slam the whole department.
As they say - no one likes the police until you need them. People need to remember that.
I am not, nor is anyone I know, a member of any branch of law enforcement.
Logged
Working together works! He was part of the new crew that was going to turn around the Department? Nothing changes. 
