Video exposes arrest of NJ police chief, kept under wraps before retirement

🚨Police body cam video shows a Jersey Shore police chief charged with DWI

🚨Sea Bright police chief Brett Friedman told officers he had not been drinking

🚨 The arrest was never publicly announced

SEA BRIGHT — Newly released body cam footage shows the arrest of a Jersey Shore police chief on drunk driving charges in 2024, three months before his retirement.

The footage obtained by the YouTube channel Transparency Bodycam shows former Sea Bright Police Chief Brett Friedman and his SUV with "confidential plates" on Nov. 29, 2024,  after hitting a fire hydrant and a utility pole along Ocean Avenue.

The chief told a Monmouth Beach police officer that a deer ran in front of his blue Ford Explorer, causing him to go off the road. He told the cop that "no drinking was involved."

However, the chief's speech was slurred.  The officers left the chief and talked among themselves, realizing the situation they found themselves in.

"How do we handle this?" one of the officers asks. "This sucks."

ALSO READ: 3 found dead in NJ home after police kill knife-wielding man

Police chief fails field tests, charged with DWI

The video shows one of the officers returning to Friedman and telling him he will have to go through a series of tests "to make sure  you're all right so I can say that I did my due diligence." Friedman responds, "Let's do it." The officer conducts a series of sobriety tests in the parking lot of the Ship Ahoy Beach Club.

Friedman failed most of the tests, including one that required him to walk and turn and stand on one foot. The officers placed the chief in a patrol vehicle, charged him with DWI. He was not handcuffed.

At police headquarters, Friedman agreed to a breath test but kept coughing, requiring the test to be started over. He was eventually charged with refusing to take the test.

Friedman was released to the custody of a woman and also charged with reckless driving. Court records show that the charge was knocked down to obstructing the passage of other vehicles. He also had to use an ignition interlock device for nine months, attend classes at an intoxicated driver resource center, and pay a total of $530 in fines.

Two Sea Bright officers who also stopped recused themselves after realizing their chief had been pulled over. The airbags were deployed, and some damage is visible on the driver's side.

The Asbury Park Press, which was first to report on the video, said there was no public announcement about Friedman's arrest. It was not mentioned during the presentation of a proclamation commemorating his service.

ALSO READ: NJ's largest hospital system expands again

Report a correction 👈 | 👉 Contact our newsroom