Ex-Oceanport Cop Loses 3rd Appeal In Fatal 2017 DWI Crash

LONG BRANCH, NJ — A former Long Branch police detective (who worked for the Oceanport Police before that), and who admitted he drove drunk and killed a 66-year-old woman in 2017, lost his third appeal this week.

This is where he tried for a third time to ask a judge for a shorter prison sentence.

Jake Pascucci, 32, was originally sentenced to 364 days in the Middlesex County jail, after he pleaded guilty in 2020 to third-degree strict liability vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated. The 364 days was part of the guilty plea deal he agreed to.

The fatal crash happened at 8:15 p.m. on September 22, 2017 in Long Branch: Pascucci, an off-duty Long Branch police officer at the time, was driving on Ocean Boulevard when he struck and killed a pedestrian at the intersection of Ocean Boulevard and South Broadway. The victim was a Karen Borkowski, 66, from Stanhope.

Detectives who responded to the scene "detected an odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath and his person and noticed his speech and movements were slow and lethargic," according to courts records of this incident.

Pascucci was taken to a nearby hospital, where he consented to provide a blood sample. Test results showed his blood alcohol content was 0.088 percent, just above the state's level of intoxication limit of 0.08 percent.

At the time, his lawyers argued that not all mitigating factors had been considered, including interviews with an eyewitness who told detectives the woman was crossing outside of the crosswalk when she stepped in front of Pascucci's car. His defense lawyers also cited an unrelated Monmouth County case, where a drunk driver struck and killed a pedestrian and received ninety days in jail.

With his lawyers, Pascucci appealed that sentence and was successful, with a Middlesex County Superior Court judge reducing his prison term first to 240 days.

Pascucci then appealed a second time for a shorter sentence, and the same judge shortened it again, this time to 180 days in jail.

The judge was Middlesex County Superior Court Judge Michael Toto.

Now, for a third time, Pascucci asked for a shorter sentence but on Wednesday, April 20, a state appeals court upheld the 180-day jail term. The state appeals court said the courts needed to deter the public from drunk driving. You can read the April 20, 2022 appeals court decision here: https://www.njcourts.gov/attor...

Original Patch report: Long Branch Cop Sentenced To Year In Jail For Pedestrian Death (2018)

The case was transferred out of Monmouth County to Middlesex to avoid any conflict of interest. Pascucci was a police officer in Oceanport for several years before he was hired by Long Branch PD, according to the Asbury Park Press.

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