Retired cop faces second DWI months after deadly crash in Raritan

RARITAN BOROUGH — A retired police officer facing charges for killing a jogger while driving drunk in September was pulled over five months later and less than a mile from the first incident for a separate DUI.

Kevin Betyeman, 56, of Bridgewater, was charged in February with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving and failing to remove snow or ice from his vehicle back, according to Raritan Borough Police.

Months earlier, on Sept. 18, he struck and killed 60-year-old Celeste Andresen, of Arizona, while she was waling across the intersection of Old York Road and Woodmere. He was charged on March 1 with third-degree charges of strict liability vehicular homicide and hindering.

In that incident, Betyeman’s blood-alcohol concentration was above the legal limit of 0.08% several hours after, though when asked by police at the scene, he denied having any alcohol or intoxicating substances, officials said.

Betyeman also was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving and failing to yield to a pedestrian.

Months after the deadly crash, officers responded to a call before 9 p.m. on Feb. 8 of an intoxicated driver in a Toyota Rav4 in the area of Old York Road, near Weiss Terrace.

Police said they found Betyeman parked in the middle of a QuickChek parking lot on West Somerset Street, after witnesses said he had driven over a curb while pulling in.

Officers put him through a series of field sobriety tests before his arrest, and Betyeman gave a urine sample at headquarters.

A month later, that sample was awaiting analysis at the State Police Forensics Lab, borough police said on Wednesday.

Betyeman retired in July 2019 as a sergeant, after 25 years with the Mountainside Police Department.

"Betyeman was not treated differently due to his prior law enforcement experience," a spokesman for the prosecutor's office previously said in response to New Jersey 101.5, after the vehicular homicide charge was filed against him.

He is slated to appear in Superior Court by May, for an arraignment on the criminal charges stemming from his September crash.

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