Authorities: Union Cop in Fatal Wrong-Way Crash Had Blood Alcohol Content of 0.24

Authorities report that the off-duty Linden police officer involved in the wrong-way crash in Staten Island that killed two other passengers had a blood alcohol content three times the legal limit.

Pedro Abad, Jr., 27, had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.24 percent during the fatal head-on collision on March 20, according to News 12 New Jersey. The legal limit is 0.08 percent.

Staten Island Chief Assistant District Attorney Daniel Master confirmed Abad, Jr.’s BAC was three times the legal limit, according to a report from NJ.com. Master did not specify when and if charges would be filed against the 27-year-old man.

Abad, 27, was driving the wrong direction on the West Shore Expressway around 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20, when he crashed into an oncoming tractor-trailer, the report from NJ.com said. Joseph Rodriguez, 28, of Linden, the front seat passenger, was killed at the scene. Frank Viggiano, a five-year veteran of the Linden Police Department, succumbed to his injuries at an area hospital a short time after the accident, NJ.com said.

Abad and another Linden officer, Patrik Kudlac, 23, who was the fourth passenger in the vehicle, both remain in critical but stable condition, published reports said.

According to a separate report from NJ.com, Abad had been charged twice with driving while intoxicated since 2011; one for a 2011 incident in Roselle and a second incident in Rahway in 2013.

(Photo via screen capture of dashboard camera footage from NJ.com)

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