Union County Cop Admits To DWI, Gets To Keep His $80K Job

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — A Union County police officer who pleaded guilty to a drunk driving crash that injured another driver has returned to his job as a police officer, at a salary of $82,620 per year.

The police officer is Mark Grzeda. He lives in East Brunswick Township, and he was pulled over and charged with drunk driving on Rt. 1 in Woodbridge Township in 2016, according to NJ Advance Media, which first published news of his arrest and guilty plea.

The fact that Grzeda was able to return to work was confirmed to Patch by Sebastian D'Elia, a spokesperson for Union County.

Grzeda, 35, is a police officer with the Union County police. That's a unit that patrols county parks and helps out with special events. Those officers also have the authority to pull drivers over and charge them with suspicion of drunk driving.

Grzeda, 33 at the time, was off duty when the crash occurred: He was driving his Honda Accord south on Rt. 1 in Woodbridge on April 1, 2016, when he rear-ended a Honda CRV at about 9:30 p.m., according to the NJ.com report. The impact caused the CRV to roll over off the road, and the other driver received a minor knee injury.

The Woodbridge officer who arrived on the scene wrote he "could smell alcohol on Grzeda’s breath, that Grzeda was swaying and his eyes were bloodshot," according to NJ.com, which obtained a copy of police report. “(Grzeda) stated he just left Buffalo Wild Wings in Linden and had two beers and a half a bottle of Jack Daniels."

Grzeda was arrested after he failed a field sobriety test, the report said. His blood alcohol content level was .18; New Jersey's legal limit is .08. You can see a video of him below, from the Woodbridge police officer's dashboard camera, of him doing the sobriety test by the side of Rt. 1.

Grzeda informed his employer, Union County police, of the charges, D’Elia confirmed to Patch.

D'Elia also confirmed he was first placed on desk duty (not allowed to carry his service weapon) after his arrest. After he was indicted by a grand jury in September of 2017, Grzeda was suspended from the force without pay, D'Elia confirmed to Patch.

He remained suspended until Dec. 3 of 2018, when Grzeda pleaded guilty in court to driving while intoxicated. He was accepted into the state's pre-trial intervention program, which provides rehabilitative services instead of jail. New Jersey's pre-trial intervention program was created to help first-time offenders avoid jail time.

After his guilty plea, Grzeda returned to work full-time, and with full pay, for the Union County police on Dec. 10, 2018, D'Elia said. His current salary is $82,620.

As part of his guilty plea, a judge suspended Grzeda's license for three months, and during that time, he will not be allowed to drive a county police patrol car, D’Elia said. He also has to pay a $600 fine.

He was disciplined internally, D’Elia said, but did not elaborate in what way, saying that was confidential personnel information he was not allowed to disclose.

This is not the first time a Union County public employee admitted to drunk driving and was allowed to keep his job: In 2011, Union County manager Alfred Faella was charged with drunk driving after he was pulled over while driving a county-registered car on Rt. 22. He pleaded guilty and was able to keep his job overseeing operations of the county, at a salary of about $122,000 per year. He retired to much fanfare in 2018.

In New Jersey, a DWI charge, and conviction, is considered a motor vehicle violation, and not a criminal charge. Therefore, it is not technically viewed as a crime under state law.

Photo and video from NJ.com on YouTube.