Ex-New Jersey Officer Charged In Fatal Staten Island Wrong-Way Crash Won't Testify
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The former New Jersey police officer accused of a drunken wrong-way crash that killed a fellow officer and another man has declined to testify at his Staten Island trial.
NJ.com says the defense abruptly ended Pedro Abad's case Monday without calling a single witness. The judge has scheduled closing arguments for Wednesday.
Abad was charged in a 27-count indictment with vehicular manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and other crimes in the deadly March 2015 crash.
Authorities said the men were headed home from a strip club when Abad drove the wrong way down the West Shore Expressway and crashed head-on into a tractor-trailer.
Surveillance footage from a nearby gas station shows the car going the wrong way.
The crash killed Linden Officer Frank Viggiano and Joseph Rodriguez. Abad and another former Linden police officer were seriously injured.
The truck driver suffered injuries that weren't considered life-threatening. The officers were off-duty at the time.
Hours before the crash, Abad posted a photo on his Instagram page of three shot glasses filled with what he identified as "Jack Daniels Fire on the house."
Prosecutors said Abad's blood-alcohol content was 0.24. That's more than three times the legal limit.
But the defense questions how a blood sample was obtained and says authorities can't prove intoxication.
If convicted on the top count, aggravated vehicular homicide, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
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