17 in NYPD Disciplined After Fatal Car Wreck

Seventeen police officers, including a precinct commander, have been disciplined for their actions in the hours before an allegedly drunken colleague was involved in a traffic collision that killed three pedestrians.

Officer Joseph Gray, a 15-year veteran, was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on multiple counts of manslaughter and vehicular manslaughter, as well as drunken driving, speeding and running a red light. Defense attorney Harold Levy said his client would plead not guilty at an arraignment today in state Supreme Court.

Before the wreck Saturday, Gray had been drinking with colleagues at a strip club and in a police parking lot next to the 72nd Precinct station house, investigators said.

Prosecutors allege Gray, 40, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.16% when he got behind the wheel of his minivan. New York’s legal limit is 0.10%

Moments later, he struck and killed Maria Herrera, 24, her 4-year-old son, Andy, and her 16-year-old sister, Dilcia Pena. Herrera was eight months’ pregnant. Her fetus did not survive an attempt at a Caesarean section birth.

Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said Wednesday that five officers were suspended and seven were placed on modified duty: Their guns and badges were taken away and they were reassigned to desk duty--for either drinking in the parking lot or visiting the strip club.

The precinct commander, Capt. Thomas DePrisco, was transferred, as were the executive officer, integrity control officer and two sergeants.

The officers began drinking in the parking lot to celebrate a sergeant’s upcoming wedding shortly after their shift ended about 8 a.m. Saturday, Kerik said. The party then moved to the club where Gray and some of the others continued drinking, the commissioner said.

Even before the accident, officers from that precinct were barred from patronizing the club because of past problems there. They also aren’t allowed to drink on department property.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who joined Kerik at a news conference, said one of many reasons for the disciplinary actions was “to send a very clear message that drinking and being a police officer is a very dangerous combination.”

Arriving at the victims’ funeral Thursday, Herrera’s husband, Victor Manuel Herrera, 24, seemed stunned and was supported by relatives.

At the cemetery, mourners sang hymns and placed roses and carnations at the shared grave.

“Terrible, terrible, so sad,” said Sara Torres, who runs a neighborhood check-cashing center patronized by the family.