New Jersey Troopers Suspended in High-Speed Caravan Inquiry By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: April 23, 2012
TRENTON (AP) — New Jersey’s attorney general suspended two state troopers without pay on Monday amid reports that they served as escorts last month for a group of high-performance luxury cars on a 100-mile-per-hour trip down the Garden State Parkway, alarming other motorists.
A lawyer for one of the troopers, meanwhile, called the suspension of his client a public relations move made in the heat of a news media spotlight that had intensified by Monday afternoon.
Suspended were Sgt. First Class Nadir Nassry and Trooper Joseph Ventrella. Sergeant Nassry has been with the state police for 25 years and Trooper Ventrella for six.
The episode in question is alleged to have occurred on March 30. Witnesses who e-mailed the state’s Turnpike Authority to report it said they saw two state police cruisers escorting the speeding cars, one in front and one in the rear.
According to Tom Feeney, a spokesman for the authority, one witness said he saw flashing lights in his rear-view mirror and had to speed up to get over to the right and out of the way. Once there, he said, the cars “raced by” at speeds of more than 100 m.p.h. The license plates were said to have been taped over.
Another witness said he saw the cars weaving in and out of traffic at high speed.
“We will not tolerate any conduct by a member of the State Police that puts the public in jeopardy, as this unauthorized caravan had the potential to do,” Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa said. “We are thoroughly investigating this incident, and those responsible will face serious discipline.”
When asked about the matter at an unrelated news conference, Gov. Chris Christie, who was at one time the state’s top federal prosecutor, called it “a dumb thing to do” and said he was confident leaving the investigation in the hands of Mr. Chiesa and Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes.
Sergeant Nassry’s lawyer, Charles J. Sciarra, said in a statement e-mailed Monday evening that his client had been scheduled for an interview about the matter earlier in the day but was suspended before the interview took place. He implied that the attorney general’s office was swayed by news coverage, which started with The Star-Ledger of Newark’s reporting about it on Sunday.
“We hope that the powers that be will take a breath, exhale and engage in a fair investigative process with which we will continue to cooperate,” Sciarra said. “Either way, we will not permit Sergeant Nassry to be sacrificed to satisfy a public relations agenda.”
It was not immediately known if Trooper Ventrella had retained a lawyer.
Police escort a caravan of sports cars at over 100 mph, cops get SUSPENDED. A 25 year old guy drives a motorcycle over 100 mph, he goes to jail with $20K bail and his mug shot printed in the newspapers and broadcast on the local news channels.
Police escort a caravan of sports cars at over 100 mph, cops get SUSPENDED. A 25 year old guy drives a motorcycle over 100 mph, he goes to jail with $20K bail and his mug shot printed in the newspapers and broadcast on the local news channels.
God Bless America!
Well, the New Jersey PD gets off worse than the Schenectady PD. If this was Schenectady, they would be getting paid during their suspension.
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