Wednesday, May 15, 2013
The National Transportation Safety Board recommends reducing the limit. Some say it would save lives. Others say it's unreasonable.
One drink could be the limit that leads to a drunken-driving charge—at least for some people if the National Transportation Safety Board has its way. On Tuesday, the NTSB recommended states lower the blood-alcohol threshold for driving while intoxicated from 0.08 percent to 0.05 percent. What do you think? Is this a reasonable proposal? According to a 2011 Mothers Against Drunk Driving report, the latest available data shows New Jersey ranked 31st out of 51 states (including the District of Columbia) in drunken-driving injuries and deaths. That year, there were 193 DWI fatalities, MADD said. About 10,000 deaths nationwide a year are related to drunken driving. The NTSB says the lower limit would save 500 to 800 lives a year. Officials at …
Monday, May 13, 2013
Township police teach safe driving with simulators.
Township high school students won't have to wonder what it's like to drive while distracted or intoxicated; they'll get to experience a simulation firsthand. Gloucester Township Police have developed a program to show students the dangers of distracted or impaired driving. Teens will drive a vehicle on a controlled course with simulations for texting while driving and being intoxicated. Students will learn about the dangers of texting and cell phone use while driving by actually driving the Gloucester Township Police DWI simulator on a controlled course while attempting to text. Texting while driving can cause drivers to focus attention on texting long enough to miss a person running in front of a vehicle, or a vehicle in front of them …
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Police say a man later charged with driving while intoxicated reached speeds of more than 120 mph on Route 42.
A Pennsylvania man charged with driving while intoxicated hit speeds in excess of 120 mph as he traveled along Route 42 in Gloucester Township last weekend, according to police. Gloucester Township Police Ptl. Benjamin Lewitt was traveling northbound in the center lane of Route 42 when he observed a Mercedes-Benz pass his marked patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed at around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. Lewitt was able to catch up to and pull over the four-door 2009 Mercedes. While talking to the driver, identified as 32-year-old Broomall, PA, resident Apostolos Michos, Lewitt smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage. Michos, of Warren Boulevard, was placed under arrest for DWI after he was unable to perform standard field sobriety tests, …
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
David L. Jones Sr. is charged with two counts of assault by auto and DWI following a car crash early on New Year's Day.
An Erial man is charged with crashing a car into two pedestrians while driving drunk on Erial-Clementon Road early on New Year's Day. Around 1:44 a.m. Tuesday, Gloucester Township Police responded to the 2000 block of Erial-Clementon Road, where they found a 22-year-old man from Gloucester Township collapsed in a yard. He was transported to Cooper University Hospital with abrasions and contusions. A 21-year-old Pine Hill resident was taken to Kennedy University Hospital-Stratford for her minor injuries. The driver of the vehicle, David L. Jones Sr., 67, was arrested at the scene for driving while intoxicated. Jones, of Dori Court, Erial, was also charged with two counts of fourth-degree assault by auto. Jones was released on a summons …
Friday, December 14, 2012
Patch Media Corporation wins a lawsuit against Washington Township for violating open public record laws surrounding state Assemblyman Paul Moriarty's July arrest.
Washington Township, Gloucester County, violated open public records laws when officials refused to release police dashboard video of Assemblyman Paul Moriarty’s drunken-driving arrest, a judge found Friday. Washington Township must turn over the complete video of the traffic stop and subsequent arrest, as well as other records in the case within two weeks, Assignment Judge Georgia M. Curio ruled, saying the public’s right to access the video trumps counterarguments. Curio heard the case in state Superior Court in Bridgeton, where she sits. Patch Media Corporation sued Washington Township’s police records custodians and township attorney John Armano after they denied requests made under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) for the arrest …
Thursday, October 25, 2012
A South Jersey judge signs off on 13 of 27 complaints Assemblyman Paul Moriarty filed last week against a Washington Township cop who charged the legislator with DWI in July.
A municipal court judge has ruled there is enough probable cause on 13 of 27 complaints New Jersey Assemblyman Paul Moriarty filed last week against the Washington Township police officer who arrested the legislator on suspicion of driving while intoxicated this summer. Moriarty filed 27 criminal complaints against Officer Joseph DiBuonaventura last Tuesday. The complaints allege the veteran police officer committed perjury and official misconduct, filed false police reports, and falsified and tampered with public records. In a letter she sent to Moriarty and his attorney, John Eastlack, on Monday, Vicinage 15 Municipal Division manager Carole Cummings notes that Judge John Casarow reviewed the complaints "for determination of probable …
Monday, September 24, 2012
Gloucester Township Patch's parent company wants to force Washington Township Police to turn over the footage of the assemblyman's July 31 arrest.
Patch Media Corporation has filed suit in state Superior Court to force Washington Township to release police dashboard camera footage of state Assemblyman Paul Moriarty’s arrest. The complaint, filed Friday in Woodbury, accuses Washington Township (Gloucester County), its police records custodian and its solicitor of violating New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, which makes official documents and materials open for public inspection. Moriarty, a Democratic 4th District state assemblyman, was arrested in Washington Township on July 31 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. Patch Media filed the lawsuit on behalf of Gloucester Township Patch, whose editors have attempted to access the footage since shortly after Moriarty’s arrest. The…
Sunday, September 23, 2012
A 29-year-old woman dies in the Blackwood crash at around 5:30 Saturday evening.
A 29-year-old Williamstown woman was killed in a one-car accident on Route 42, in Blackwood, Saturday evening. Itay Massoquoi was partially ejected from the vehicle when it rolled onto its driver's side after striking two trees along the state highway, near exit 10, according to New Jersey State Police spokesman Sgt. Adam Grossman. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The accident occurred at 5:25 p.m. The driver, 30-year-old Monte Brown, also of Williamstown, has been charged with driving while intoxicated, Grossman said Sunday afternoon. Additional charges may be filed against Brown. Brown and front-seat passenger, Anita Saunders, 46, of Clayton, were taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden for treatment of non-life-threatening …
39.76574
-75.04862
Route 42 & Black Horse Pike, Blackwood, NJ
/articles/williamstown-woman-killed-in-rt-42-crash
/locations/7947205
Thursday, August 16, 2012
A 5-year-old child suffers non-life-threatening facial injuries.
A Blackwood man police say appeared to be driving while intoxicated struck a child with his car in Lakeview Apartments Wednesday evening. The pedestrian crash occurred around 6:45 p.m. on the Blackwood apartment complex's Pine Run Drive. The 5-year-old child sustained facial injuries, according to Gloucester Township Police Lt. Edward Bryant, but the juvenile's injuries were not life-threatening. Investigators determined Maurice Chaney Jr., 36, of Almonesson Road, was driving while under the influence when he struck the child, Bryant said. Chaney refused to submit to blood-alcohol content testing at the police station. He was charged with fourth-degree assault by auto, and cited for driving under the influence, refusal to submit to blood-…
39.827359
-75.079282
Lakeview Apartments
590 Lower Landing Rd, Blackwood, NJ
/articles/police-drunken-driver-strikes-child
1778404
/locations/7639849
Friday, August 10, 2012
Assemblyman Paul D. Moriarty is scheduled to appear in Bridgeton Municipal Court on Tuesday, Aug. 21.
His case transferred from Washington Township to Bridgeton earlier this week, Assemblyman Paul D. Moriarty now knows when he's to appear in court following his arrest last week on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. The hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 21, according to Bridgeton Municipal Court Administrator Marie Wells. The session during which Moriarty is to appear is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Moriarty, 55, was arrested on the Black Horse Pike, in the Turnersville section of his hometown of Washington Township, Gloucester County, on July 31. The lawmaker has labeled Officer Joseph DiBuonaventura's decision to arrest him as an "abuse of power," and has denied having consumed any alcholic beverages prior to the traffic …
Hugh Janus
2:18 pm on Sunday, May 19, 2013
Absolutely ridiculous idea! Responsible people out trying to enjoy life, socializing with two or three drinks would soon be criminals, paying insurance surcharges, doing community services, and in some cases losing their jobs. When someone is killed in an accident, the other driver is usually tested. If found that they were drinking, whether it was their fault or not, or even if it was not a … more ›