Jersey City Cop Was 'Highly Intoxicated' When Pulled Over, Released With No Charges; Still on the Job

Incident uncovered after former police chief sues

via NJ.com

A Jersey City police officer was pulled over in Robbinsville, New Jersey, for appearing to be driving drunk ("highly intoxicated" according to one cop) in an incident caught on dashboard camera and released thanks to an open records request from The Jersey Journal. The cop wasn't charged and kept his job. The Journal describes the incident and how it came to light:

The video, taken from the dashboard of one a Robbinsville police officer, shows one officer telling Sgt. Vincent Corso, the Jersey City cop, that he is too "f***** up" to drive, while just off camera there is an apparent struggle after the officers tell Corso they plan to confiscate his gun.

News of the traffic stop first surfaced two weeks ago when Robert Cowan, the former Jersey City police chief, cited the incident in a civil lawsuit he filed against the city, Mayor Steve Fulop and Public Safety Director James Shea.

That lawsuit claims the mayor "meddled" in police matters, demoted him unfairly, and placed his desk near a toilet out of spite. Would Robbinsville police have been justified if they had used deadly force to disarm Corso? No—and it's good that they didn't. But grand juries clear cops who shoot unarmed drunks. And New Jersey's a state that threw charges at a single mom who admitted she had a gun in her car, legally purchased in Pennsylvania. But cops have special privileges. In encounters with other police, those privileges may actually be constitutional rights. We all deserve those.

Watch the video, via The Jersey Journal:

Comments

[Almanian!]

seems legit

*moves on*

[Fist of Etiquette]

...and placed his desk near a toilet out of spite.

I wish my office was restroom adjacent. Also, fuck you, New Jersey.

[Episiarch]

So you don't have a nose?

[Swiss Servator, Quelle frisch]

Wasn't it cut off after he failed to pay a gambling debt timely?

[Almanian!]

Fist was in "Chinatown"?

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

He was a nosy kitty.

[Episiarch]

"The boss said we didn't have to break anything."

[Lady Bertrum]

I believe he lost his nose at the Battle of the Blackwater - defending King's Landing.

[Fist of Etiquette]

So you don't have a nose?

I do, which is a big reason I steer clear of New Jerksey.

[Episiarch]

Aren't you from PA? And you're making fun of NJ? Pot. Kettle.

[db]

You're kidding, right? PA is Liberland to New Jersey's Kazakhstan.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, don't let him get away with that slander. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may be a terrible place objectively judged but relative to NJ it looks pretty good. And it sucks that that shithole blocks our ocean view.

[Vapourwear]

Pee-yay-Ian's unite!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Get back to me when you secure a NJ carry permit.

[Catatafish]

This guy got a raw deal. "Professional Courtesy" usually involves a reacharound as well, yes?

[Kaptious Kristen]

This reminds me - Police Week came and went and I didn't even notice. Were the cops less drunk and disorderly and violent and trashy this year? Or did DCPD do a better job of covering up the shenanigans?

[Catatafish]

They were just too busy with their second jobs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....story.html

[Kaptious Kristen]

That guy was an idiot for getting caught. There are probably 1000s of his colleagues running scams, drug rings, and hookers. He probably pissed off the wrong person on the force, or encroached on another cop's territory.

[Episiarch]

I actually wouldn't be the tiniest bit surprised if they got sternly warned to keep a low profile this year what with all the Baltimore and Ferguson in the news.

[Ted S.]

NYC's corrections officers ran an ad campaign a couple of weeks ago in which the union boss kept switching between "we" and "they", and was proud that NYC encages 100k people, which is over 1% of the population.

[Lady Bertrum]

My town is the first in NJ to equip all of its cops with body cameras. I just wish I didn't have to pay for them.

[KDN]

But cops have special privileges.

Yes, but those privileges often extend to friends and family. And NJ has so many cops that roughly half of the nonblack population gets a get-out-of-a-ticket free card once per year.

Semi-related Robbinsville story: my wife's coworker got pulled over there by some rookie for going 5 over the speed limit. Since this happened around midnight during the Xmas season, he wanted to do field sobriety test. Said coworker was pregnant and had a busted ankle, so she reckoned it was a bad idea. She went back and forth with the dude for 15 minutes before the supervisor that he called so he could conduct the test finally pulled up, realized the stupidity of this idea, and let her go.

[Paul.]

Same exact thing happened here with a Bellevue cop. The same cop who had been forcefully ejected from a mariners game due to intoxication.

His punishment was he got removed from the bomb squad. I crap you negative.

It's my humble opinion that problem cops should be PLACED on the bomb squad with a lit cigarette.

[Episiarch]

I thought he got ejected from a Seahawks game. No one gets ejected from Mariners games. They're not good enough to warrant ejection-level antics.

[Paul.]

I posted that without checking to verify the exact sports venue.

You just need to feel superior to me by correcting picayune details. Say "hi" to my mom.

[R C Dean]

I wonder if this video couldn't provide the basis for a civil rights suit (racially-based, most likely).

Something like this:

"See, here's how a white guy gets treated when he drives drunk off his ass. [show video of cop getting professional courtesy].

"And, this is how my black/Mexican/whatever client got treated [show video of client getting arrested].

"Note the different treatment of two citizens of different races."

Puts the cops in a damned uncomfortable position. Hard to argue that the different treatment was justified on the merits, given what a raving a-hole the cop is. Really hard to say out loud that raving a-hole cops get treated better than other citizens because they are cops. Its almost that admitting to racism is the best option at that point.

[Paul.]

It is my opinion that the cops will take one for the team on racism, but they'll never budge on professional courtesy. Ever.

[Tony]

The police are one of the main beneficiaries of the DUI racket, so what would be the point of shaking one of them down?

[amagi1776]

These are the jokers who are making me sue them to get my "Firearms Identification Card" because they're illegally asking me to provide them with information that goes beyond what state law authorizes them to collect.

This is in direct violation of a State Superior Court order that says they CAN'T ask for more information.

I guess mere mortals like myself can't be trusted with a gun. Drunk Driving Sociopaths however?

[Paul.]

Is this the card that identifies you as a firearm?

[amagi1776]

According to the Jersey City Police, it identifies you as a trouble maker.

[Loki]

Unpossible. There's no double standard for cops.

hth

[Notorious G.K.C.]

This guy was driving drunk, and seemed to be struggling with the cops who pulled him over and wanted to get his gun, and he got a stern talking-to, as well as a warning not to drive drunk *again* or he'd be arrested.

That seems pretty much in line with the treatment a "civilian" would get.

Well, with this difference - except that instead of a stern talking-to, the civilian would probably have been shot.

Other than that, no difference.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

It gets better:

"The ex-police chief, whose allegations have been dubbed fiction by city spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill, says Fulop tried to conceal the incident involving Corso, a local union official, because he wanted to curry favor with the union in advance of a possible gubernatorial run in 2017.

"Corso, 47, the first vice president of the Jersey City Police Superior Officers Association and a 22-year veteran of the police force, did not return a phone call seeking comment."

*And* one of the cops who picked up Corso was also a union official.

"Steve Lenox, spokesman for Corso's and Kearns' union, said it is "sad" that the Jan. 30, 2014 traffic stop is being "rehashed, with more fairy tale than fact." Lenox said the "disgruntled" Cowan is trying to "discredit a highly respected member" of the police force.

""As made clear by the fact that no charges were brought that evening, Sgt. Corso did not get 'in trouble', but it is true that Mr. Kearns, acting in his capacity (as) president of the JCPSOA [union], did respond to assist one of his members who was left stranded due to an inoperable vehicle," Lenox said. "What is typical of President Kearns' actions that night is his willingness to support a fellow member in need.""