Crime & Safety

Off-Duty Sayreville Police Sgt. Caused DWI Crash, Prosecutor Says

The off-duty police sergeant who lives in Marlboro allegedly caused a drunk driving crash Tuesday on Rt. 9. The victim is critical.

OLD BRIDGE, NJ — An off-duty Sayreville police sergeant who lives in Marlboro allegedly caused a drunk driving crash early Tuesday morning on Route 9 in Old Bridge, Middlesex County prosecutor Andrew Carey announced. The victim is currently in critical condition.

Jeffrey Kutz, 57, an off-duty Sayreville police sergeant from Marlboro, is charged with driving while intoxicated and assault by auto. The incident took place early Tuesday morning, Dec. 18 on Route 9 South near Old Texas Road in Old Bridge, the Middlesex County prosecutor said.

Details of the accident were not immediately released, but the victim involved was airlifted to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, and is currently in critical condition, the county prosecutor said.

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This is not the first alleged incident of an off-duty police officer causing a drunk driving crash this holiday season: Michael Dillon, 50, of Neptune and a Jersey City police lieutenant, is accused of leading police on a car chase on I-195 in Upper Freehold Township Friday morning, Dec. 14. The chase began around 2:30 a.m. in Hamilton Township and ended at milepost 8.8 in Upper Freehold when Dillon's car ran out of gas, police said. He has been suspended from the Jersey City police force without pay, a spokeswoman for Jersey City said.

Dillon had been at a police holiday party Thursday night and is suspected of driving drunk afterward, sources told The Jersey Journal. Read that story: Officer Busted For DWI After Monmouth County Police Chase: Cops

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Kutz is scheduled to appear in court on January 24, 2019, at the Middlesex County Courthouse. He makes approximately $134,000 a year as a police sergeant with the Sayreville force, a search of public employee salaries found.

Anyone with information is asked to call Officer Penley of the Old Bridge Police Department at (732) 721-5600, or Detective Donald Heck of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at (732) 745- 8842.

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