Brian T. Mahoney, 51, served as chief for 11 years before retiring in March. He was charged with DUI after he allegedly crashed his SUV into a utility pole last month. Watch video
SOUTH PLAINFIELD -- The newly retired Scotch Plains police chief charged in a DUI crash last month had a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit and would not answer an officer's questions in a dashcam video taken at the scene, according to police evidence.
Brian T. Mahoney, 51, served as police chief in Scotch Plains for 11 years before retiring in March. He was charged with DUI after he allegedly crashed his Dodge Durango into a utility pole on New Durham Road just before midnight on Sept. 10.
The testing done on Mahoney's blood after he was taken to a local hospital following the crash revealed his blood alcohol content to be 0.23 percent, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08, according to the report from the State Police lab.
Former Scotch Plains Chief Brian Mahoney retired in March. (File photo) A police dashcam video obtained by NJ Advance Media includes audio of interviews with witnesses to the crash who say Mahoney was urinating in the street and hiding bottles from his car in nearby bushes.
In the report, the responding officer describes Mahoney as slurring his words, staggering, swaying, leaning on his SUV, and struggling to stand on his own with a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and a wet spot on his pants.
The report says Mahoney at first told the officer he was not injured and did not remember why he veered off the road. The report says he later admitted to being on his cell phone.
After the officer turns on his microphone to record his answers to field sobriety tests, Mahoney does not reply to several questions.
"We're on tape, alright. So I'm letting you know right now we're going through this process," the officer says.
"I understand. I understand. There was an accident," Mahoney says.
He then does not answer twice when asked about his highest level of education, but eventually answers when asked if he was injured in the crash, this time saying he is injured.
"Yes ... my head is killing me," Mahoney replies. Paramedics were called and Mahoney was not subjected to the tests, as is police procedure when a driver is injured.
NJ Advance Media followed up with two of the witnesses who spoke to police in the video and were listed in the report.
One woman, who asked not to be identified by name, said saw Mahoney urinating in front of his wrecked car before police arrived. In the video, she advises police as to where the urine is, in case they need it for evidence.
"I turned onto the street and as I was passing, the guy was just getting out of his car and he was urinating right in the middle of the street," she said. "He was very nonchalant about it."
Another witness, Suresh Keswani, who lives directly across from the crash site on New Durham Road, said he saw Mahoney walk back to his car and went to him to make sure he was okay.
"He had a bag or something he was trying to throw in bushes and then he came back and sat in the car with the door open. When I asked him if he was okay, he didn't respond," Keswani remembers.
(The police report on the crash says the responding officer found several small bottles in the bushes but that the markings on them led him to believe they had been there for some time.)
"I have a feeling he's going to make us go for the ... the warrant or something," the officer tells another officer arriving to the scene on the dashcam video. "He's being very hostile."
Later in the video, several first responders help Mahoney back up from the curb as he appears to struggle to his feet.
Once at the hospital, the officer asked Mahoney to consent to a blood test, which he initially did consent to, but later changed his mind and stated that due to his head injury he could not make a sound decision, the report says. A judge then granted a search warrant for the blood to be drawn.
When a nurse attempted to draw his blood, Mahoney was "very uncooperative" and continuously moved his arm, the report says.
A current Scotch Plains officer picked up Mahoney from the hospital, according to the report.
Mahoney had been an officer in Scotch Plains for 30 years and became chief in 2005.
Mahoney and Mahoney's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. His first hearing in South Plainfield municipal court is scheduled for Nov. 2.
A Scotch Plains officer Mahoney hired, Stephanie Roggina, 26, was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of third-degree eluding and driving under the influence after allegedly speeding away from an officer in Hunterdon County in August.
Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.