Joseph Lettieri is accused of drunken driving after leaving the scene of an accident
An N.J. State Police car sits at a crime scene in this May 2011 photo.MOUNTAINSIDE — New State Police policies that increased scrutiny for troopers suspected of drinking and driving were put to the test less than two days after they were issued last week.
Shortly after midnight on May 11, State Police Sgt. Joseph Lettieri was accused of drunken driving in Mountainside after leaving the scene of an accident on the Garden State Parkway, according to law enforcement officials. He pleaded not guilty today in municipal court in Mountainside, and his lawyer denied the allegations.
The case was the first after stricter reviews of drinking and driving incidents involving troopers were ordered by State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes on May 9 — one day after a Star-Ledger report revealed the alleged cover-up of a trooper’s violent highway crash in 2009.
The newspaper reported Detective Sgt. William Billingham was not suspended or charged with the crash until March 2011, and prosecutors now say he was drunk behind the wheel. In addition, the trooper’s fictional undercover identity was written on the police report.
Fuentes mandated "multiple layers of internal review" and required regional commanders to ensure troopers are properly tested for alcohol.
So when Lettieri was stopped on Mountain Avenue in Mountainside on May 11, State Police brass initiated a far different response than with the 2009 crash involving Billingham, brother of the Camden County Sheriff Charles Billingham.
Lettieri, 44, was ticketed by Mountainside police and suspended without pay by the end of the day, said Acting Maj. Gerald Lewis, a State Police spokesman.
"The fact that he was suspended immediately upon us being notified of this incident shows that we are being very transparent," he said. "It shows accountability."
Lewis said vehicles driven by Lettieri, a 22-year veteran who supervises dispatchers at the State Police barracks in Totowa, and another driver hit each other while traveling south side-by-side on the parkway in Union County. No one was injured.
Lewis said Lettieri, who was off duty and driving his personal vehicle, exited onto Route 22 and drove into Mountainside. He said the driver of the other vehicle called 911, and Mountainside police said they stopped Lettieri after a bulletin was issued.
Capt. Richard Osieja, a Mountainside police spokesman, would not say whether Lettieri was tested for alcohol.
With the new policies on troopers’ motor vehicle stops fresh on the books, Lewis said a State Police captain was sent to Mountainside to ensure all rules were followed.
"We have an officer there who can make some decisions that need to be made at the scene," he said.
Lettieri’s lawyer, Charles Sciarra, called the State Police’s new policies "reactionary."
"Further, we are extremely disappointed that the State Police has suspended Lettieri without pay and left his family without medical benefits, but we understand the pathetic reality that, under the current administration, the presumption of innocence does not apply to members of law enforcement in New Jersey," Sciarra said. "We fully expect Sgt. Lettieri will soon resume his unblemished twenty-two plus year career once these charges are quickly confronted."
Sciarra said Lettieri is cooperating with investigators and suggested there wasn’t any accident on the parkway.
"The lack of any damage to his vehicle but for a crack in a side view mirror and the failure of any such summons to be issued essentially negates this allegation," Sciarra said.
Lewis said troopers from the Bloomfield station and internal affairs are examining the incident. As of today, Lettieri was not facing any charges or motor vehicle violations for the accident.