New York Police Department Detective Jay Poggi was arrested for driving his partner to the hospital in the midst of an emergency. According to reports, the emergency was that his partner was shot in the wrist–by Poggi, who was drunk while on duty.
ABC News reports that the incident occurred while Poggi and his partner were on duty in Queens. While “showing his partner the barrel of his gun,” Poggi accidentally shot the weapon–straight into his partner’s wrist. He immediately drove their police car to the hospital, where his partner is expected to make a full recovery.
ABC also reports that Poggi’s attorney has argued that his client did the responsible thing by driving intoxicated. Attorney James Moschella told the press that his client had driven his partner to “get life-saving treatment at the hospital,” something that he argued would constitute an exception under DWI law. Moschella did not highlight the fact that Poggi’s partner would not have needed any treatment if his partner had not arrived to work intoxicated and accidentally shot him.
Poggi is a 31-year veteran of the force, and his partner has been an officer for 12 years. While the Queens judicial system has already passed down their ruling on the DWI, the NYPD is also conducting an internal investigation on the matter.
The embarrassing incident follows announcements of significant reforms from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and one failed attempt to connect with New Yorkers on social media. The NYPD launched a Twitter hashtag program called “#MyNYPD” this week, encouraging users to upload photos of themselves with police officers, presumably of good memories or positive experiences with the police. Instead, users uploaded dozens of photos of alleged instances of police brutality–images of officers pulling individuals’ hair, dragging a civilian through the street, or otherwise inappropriately aggrieving a New York City resident.
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