Indict Sgt. for Hitting, Injuring Elderly Man While Driving Drunk

An NYPD Sergeant Oct. 22 was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for hitting an elderly man with his car four months ago after drinking at a bar, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced.

Sgt. Joseph Spiekerman, who was suspended from the Housing Bureau Public Service Area 4 in The Bronx, was indicted on felony charges of assault and vehicular assault.

Allege He Drank All Night

The investigation showed that Mr. Spiekerman, who worked the 4 p.m. to midnight shift on June 28, went to a bar at York Ave. and East 85th St. in Manhattan after work. He allegedly drank until 6:30 a.m. when he started to drive uptown on York Avenue.

He accelerated in an attempt to beat the light at 86th St., but it turned red well before he entered the intersection, according to the DA. Mr. Spiekerman struck 68-year-old Barry Gintel, who was crossing York Ave., without braking or making any significant attempts to avoid the victim.

Mr. Spiekerman’s car struck the elderly man in the left side of his body. The victim was taken to New York Hospital with numerous injuries to his legs, ribs, neck, spleen and head. He is still in a rehabilitation hospital, confined to a wheelchair, with minimal ability to walk aided by a walker.

According to the DA, Mr. Spiekerman stopped his car immediately following the accident, stayed at the scene and attempted to assist the victim. He also admitted to responding officers that he had been drinking.

Refused to Take Alcohol Test

Mr. Morgenthau, though, said that Mr. Spiekerman made false statements about where he had been drinking and where he worked. He refused to take a blood-alcohol test at the scene. After a court order was obtained to draw his blood, he showed a .11 blood-alcohol level, which is above the .08 legal limit for driving. Since the test was administered six hours after the incident, investigators estimate he would have registered approximately .18 at the time of the incident.

Mr. Spiekerman was indicted on one count of second-degree assault, which is punishable by up to 21/3 to 7 years in prison; and two counts of second degree vehicular assault, which carries the penalty of 11/3 to 4 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Oct. 22.

The Sergeant’s indictment came a week after the indictment of another police officer who ran over and killed a woman in Brooklyn after allegedly consuming large quantities of alcohol. The sobriety test for Police Officer Andrew Kelly was delayed for more than seven hours after the crash, but unlike Mr. Spiekerman, his blood was clean by the time it was drawn. NYPD Internal Affairs has been investigating a possible cover-up in that case.