Dashboard camera recording after New Jersey State Police Sfc. Michael Roadside allegedly crashed his patrol vehicle into another car while drunk (partial recording)

The first thing an allegedly inebriated on-duty state trooper told another arriving officer after a panicked woman called 911, saying she was afraid for her life?

"I'm not drunk."

New Jersey 101.5 has obtained dashboard camera recordings from the two vehicles responding after Kimberly Wilson called 911 from the Monmouth Rest Area along the Garden State Parkway. She reported a trooper later identified as Sgt. Michael Roadside — a 30-year veteran of the force — was so sloppy-drunk when he crashed into her at the rest stop that he had vomit on his inside-out shirt, that he dropped his magazine and a Budd Light cap while trying to show her his weapon, and that his belly was hanging out.

New Jersey 101.5 has also obtained a recording of Wilson's 911 call and the associated police dispatcher communications, in which she says Roadside "begged me not to call the police" and offered $1,000 for the damage if she wouldn't, before returning to his car to suck on a lollipop while she dialed 911 for help.

In one of two recordings — that from the car of the first arriving officer, identified in State Police documents as Trooper Blazas — Roadside is seen exiting his marked patrol vehicle as soon as Blazas approaches. Throughout their exchange, Blazas seems to go along with what Roadside tells him — though a few minutes later, he tells a dispatcher he's stalling until a sergeant can arrive:

Blazas: “How we doing?”
Roadside: "I am not drunk"
Blazas: "You ok?"
Roadside: "Yeah. I had prostate surgery. I’m on anesthesia right now. I’m trying to get home to Cinnaminson. I will pay for her, you know, whatever she has to do."
Blazas “What happened, you hit her from behind?”
Roadside: (Moving his hands in front of his face) “I can’t, um. I gotta get home.”
Blazas: OK. All right. Fair enough. I’m gonna go over there and see if she’s OK. You all right? You want an ambulance or anything?"
Roadside “No, I’m fine. I just need to get home.”
Blazas: "Fair enough."
Roadside “Whatever’s wrong with her car, I’ll pay for it."
Blazas “Oh ok, that works, not a problem.”
Roadside: "I got all the paperwork for the hospital."
Blazas “Oh ok, all right, that works, not a big deal, we’ll get you out of here quick. Going home?”
Roadside “Yeah. I live in Cinnaminson”

Blazas next approaches Wilson to ask how she's doing. "Not good," she answers"

She recounts much the same story she told 911 dispatchers: That while she was stopped at a stop sign, Roadside's vehicle hit her from behind.

The 911 call can be heard below:

On the 911 call she tells dispatchers: "His shirt's hanging out. His uniform was turned inside out, his belly’s hanging out. I just ordered him to get back. ... His gun is on him, and his magazine dropped drop on the floor. A bottle cap, a Bud Light cap dropped down on the floor. I told him to get back in the car."

She describes in both conversations Roadside offering her the $1,000 not to call police — which she later reiterated in a written statement. On the 911 call, when dispatchers urge her to get out of her vehicle or move it so she can see Roadside's license plate, she says she's afraid to get out of the car. A dispatcher asked if Roadside might be suffering a medical emergency, rather than intoxicated.

"No, this man’s drinking," she said.

In the dashboard camera recording, Blazas can be heard speaking with dispatchers via police radio about the conversations he had with Wilson and Roadside:

“Well that’s the problem. He comes out of the car, shirt’s all untucked. He’s got — I don’t know if it’s saliva or vomit on his shirt. Seems kind of out of it. Tells me he just had prostate cancer so he tells me he’s a little out of it from the anesthesia. He’s trying to get home."

In an associated New Jersey State Police Drinking Driving Report also obtained by New Jersey 101.5 through a records request, Sgt. M. J. Durak said Roadside repeatedly referenced a prostate surgery — though at one point he said it was two weeks earlier.

Another recording provided by State Police in response to New Jersey 101.5's record request,apparently froms Durak's, could not be shown here because it was provided in a proprietary format that can not be converted for use in other players with conventional software

But in that video, Roadside can be seen in the back of another trooper's car after he's removed from his own. Durak approaches and asks Roadside if he has a license — and Roadside says he wants to return to his own car to get his badge and his phone.

When Durak tells him he'll be keeping Roadside in the back of the other vehicle, but can go get the license if Roadside tells him where it is, Roadside answers, "I have no idea. I just got out of the hospital. I have bad prostate surgery. I'll get it."

When Durak asks if he can look in the vehicle for Roadside's license, Roadside appears annoyed: "You're going to go through all of the car? ... Where are we going with this?"

According to the Drinking Driving Report, police later found two open beers in Roadside's patrol vehicle.

Roadside was charged with driving while intoxicated, careless driving, and having an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, according to State Police. He was processed and released.

Police say his blood alcohol content level registered at .16 percent — twice the legal limit. According to the report, when he was told that, he answered, "I've been way more drunk than that."

Although he denied being drunk when other officers arrived, he later admitted on questionnaire he'd had nine beers at his home.

State Police said in October Roadside had been working a supplemental detail at a construction site at the time of his arrest.

According to the state Motor Vehicle Commission, Roadside’s driving record shows a 1981 violation for careless driving, a 1982 violation for speeding, and a 1983 violation for disregard of a stop sign. All of those were before he joined the State Police in 1988. No violations are on record for the time since.

The record would only reflect violations that resulted in a guilty plea or finding,

Dashboard camera recording after New Jersey State Police Sfc. Michael Roadside allegedly crashed his patrol vehicle into another car while drunk (full recording)

 

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