Plea deal for NJ cop accused of DWI crash that crashed airbone car into church

After a mistake by law enforcement compromising their case, a Millville officer accused of driving drunk — and causing a crash in a private vehicle that ejected two other officers before the car went airborne and hit a church — has accepted a plea deal, the Courier Post reports.

Officer Michael McLaughlin Jr. and the other officers in the car were off-duty during the 2014 incident, the Courier Post reports. McLaughlin entered a plea of reckless driving in exchange for dismissal of the DWI charge and a charge for not wearing a seatbelt, the report said.

The prosecution's statement it couldn't conclusively prove McLaughlin was drunk that night was also a break for the car's owner, Officer Charles Twigg, accused of allowing McLaughlin to drive drunk. Allowing drunken driving carries essentially the same penalties as drunken driving in New Jersey.

According to the report, Prosecutor Inez Acosta said an initial mistake by the Cumberland prosecutor's office prevented the DWI conviction — as a conversation with a judge about a search warrant to draw McLaughlin's blood wasn't recorded. The judge no longer remembered the conversation, and admission of a blood alcohol test showing McLaughlin at .09 percent was barred, the report said.

Earlier this year, Millville's top-ranking officer, Lt. Edward Zadroga, was also charged with driving while intoxicated after a crash, 6ABC reported.