DA Closes Probe Into Handling Of Crash Investigation Involving Former Police Chief's Wife

TUCKAHOE NY — The Westchester County District Attorney's Office has closed its investigation into the conduct of Tuckahoe police officers.

DA Susan Cacace said that criminal charges were not appropriate, but did make recommendations about some policy changes.

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On Aug. 17, the Tuckahoe Police Department referred the handling of its investigation into a motor vehicle accident that occurred in Tuckahoe on Aug. 14, to the Westchester County District Attorney's Office for independent review.

The crash in question involved Donna Costanzo, wife of retired Tuckahoe Police Chief John Costanzo.

According to the DA, the primary focus of the review was to determine whether the actions and conduct of the Tuckahoe police officers who responded to the scene and investigated the incident constituted criminal conduct.

The DA said the review conducted by the DA's Public and Law Enforcement Integrity Bureau included investigators and Assistant District Attorneys examining police body-worn camera footage and area surveillance footage; interviewing officers from the Tuckahoe Police Department and Yonkers Police Department; and interviewing civilian eyewitnesses who were present or near the scene, including the driver of an Amazon delivery truck that was struck in the Tuckahoe incident.

The investigation found that Costanzo was driving a black Infiniti sedan in Yonkers when she struck a parked vehicle on Falmouth Road at approximately 2:53 p.m., and left the scene, according to the DA's office,

Approximately 17 minutes later, she struck another vehicle in a parking lot on Central Avenue in Yonkers and left the scene, investigators said. About five minutes after that, she struck an Amazon delivery truck that was legally parked near the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Main Street in Tuckahoe, according to the investigation's findings.

Following the Yonkers incidents, the Yonkers Police Department notified the Tuckahoe Police Department of the earlier hit-and-runs and requested that Tuckahoe police officers be on the lookout for Costanzo's car.

Two Tuckahoe police officers responded to the accident scene; however, the available body-worn camera footage was limited, the DA investigators found, A review of Motorola data found that one officer appeared to deactivate their body-worn camera moments after approaching Costanzo, who was seated in the driver's seat of her vehicle, according to the investigation. The officer denied tuning off the body-worn camera.

The other officer's body-worn camera ceased recording approximately one-minute and 45 seconds after arriving on the scene, with records provided by Motorola confirming that its battery had died.

A Tuckahoe detective and an off-duty lieutenant also responded to the scene. The lieutenant arrived after Costanzo had left and did not interact with her.

"Although our review of witness testimony found that Mrs. Costanzo exhibited signs that could be consistent with intoxication, neither the responding officers nor civilian witnesses reported detecting an odor of alcohol on her breath or observed other definitive signs of intoxication," The Westchester County District Attorney's Office said in a statement released on Tuesday. "Additionally, none of the Tuckahoe police officers who responded to the scene investigated whether Mrs. Costanzo was impaired or otherwise evaluated her sobriety. Our review further found that the department did not document a reason for not undertaking an investigation into the circumstances of the incident."

Instead, one of the responding officers stated during the review that he knewCostanzo was the wife of the former Tuckahoe Police Chief and drove her home following the accident, according to the DA's office.

Following the review, the DA's office concluded that "all of the available evidence that was accumulated is insufficient to establish provable criminal conduct by any one of the Tuckahoe police officers involved in the incident and, therefore, does not establish probable cause required to support the filing of criminal charges."

The prosecutor's office said it has given its findings to Tuckahoe Police Chief Larry Rotta and referred this matter back to his police department for internal investigation.

"Although not the primary focus of this review, our office recommended that the Tuckahoe Police Department modify its body-worn camera policy to make clear that officers must keep their body-worn cameras activated upon responding to a motor vehicle accident and until the individual involved has been cleared of any potential criminal wrongdoing," DA Cacace office said. "Notably, the Yonkers Police Department has filed two charges for leaving the scene of a property damage accident against Mrs. Costanzo ... We urge all law enforcement agencies in Westchester County to ensure that their officers' conduct is consistent with their obligation to protect public safety, regardless of the circumstances or individuals involved."