Postal Driver Charged With Hitting Wayne Cop On Bike

A U.S. Post Office truck driver was charged with careless driving after he struck Office Sean Mitchell while Mitchell was training for a charity bike race, police said.

Edward Gomez-Almonte, 35 of Paterson, was issued a motor vehicle summons for careless driving for the crash, said Capt. Laurence Martin.

Mitchell is expected to make a full recovery, but it will be some time before he is out on patrol again, authorities said.

Mitchell was riding his bike on Demarest Drive Saturday morning at 10:20 a.m. when Almonte made a left turn out of a driveway onto the road, hitting Mitchell, Martin said.

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Mitchell tried to stop, but he was hit and thrown off the bike, into the air, and landed face down on the street, Martin said. He injured vertebrae in his neck and had internal bleeding. He was rushed to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center.

Mitchell, a 16-year veteran with the department, was training for a multiple sclerosis charity bike race, an annual event he participates in, Martin said. He also rides in the Police Unity Tour to Washington, D.C. every year.

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“He’s going to be out for a while,” Martin said. “If the driver had been more cautious, he may have seen the officer on the bicycle.”

Mitchell will be placed on modified assignment when he returns to work, Martin said, which is standard procedure whenever an officer comes back from being injured.

(Pictured: Officer Sean Mitchell/Courtesy of the Wayne Police Department)