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Accused DWI Cop Could Face 7 Years, Family Calls Cover-Up

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Andrew Kelly
Yesterday a grand jury voted to indict NYPD Officer Andrew Kelly on charges of second-degree vehicular manslaughter and driving while intoxicated in an accident last month that killed a woman who was trying to hail a cab. If convicted, Kelly faces up to seven years in prison. Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes says that Kelly, 30, will also face trial on other charges, including speeding.

Kelly's lawyer, Arthur Aidala, told the Times, "I think the Brooklyn district attorney's office, their success rate in obtaining indictments is somewhere in the 90th percentile, so we are not surprised....We believe the district attorney’s office has witness statements in evidence that are going to corroborate Andrew’s version that he was not drunk when he was driving." Aidala also told reporters, "This was a tragic, horrific accident. He was driving on a dark, rainy, foggy night."

The attorney for the family of victim Vionique Valnord countered that he "has confidence in the Brooklyn district attorney's office that justice will be done." He added that, "The family now awaits the investigation of the Internal Affairs Bureau to determine if there was an attempt to cover up."

According to court papers, after fatally hitting Valnord with his SUV, officers found Kelly reeking of booze, with slurred speech and glassy eyes. Two officers besides Kelly have been suspended: a first responder who allegedly gave him water and gum, and another off-duty officer who was in the car with Kelly but left the scene. And according to the Post, a third officer has may also face departmental charges for a delay in getting Kelly to a hospital to check his blood-alcohol level. By the time Kelly took the test seven hours after the accident, he had a blood-alcohol level of zero.

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Comments [rss]

  • potsmoker

    UH YES! because without some sort of benefit by telling LIES they will PROTECT their jobs,

    for admitting to being drunk while technically ON duty (if you believe that cops are on duty 24 hours a day)

    being involved in an accident, leaving the scene, covering up their involvment,

    while its not a crime to be a passenger in a car being driven by a drunk driver,

    its certainly some sort of dereliction of duty and double standard to be a COP in a car driven by a drunk COP.



  • jessecal

    Does anyone think that the other officers in the SUV are going to jeopardize their jobs & lives to now lie in support of this one dumb drunken cop. . . just because he's a COP!

    Kelly is going to need much more than a lawyer with the 'rainy-foggy-night' defense in his briefcase!

  • potsmoker

    I feel sorry for Michael Pigott compared to Kelly.



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