There was still shock and sadness last week after a Tuesday night accident on the Pulaski Skyway that led to a Jersey City police officer being charged with driving while intoxicated and assault with an automobile, leaving a woman and her 2-year-old son in critical condition.
Police Officer Kevin Freibott, who is a second cousin of Mayor Jerremiah Healy, was charged with DWI on Tuesday night after crashing into a Pontiac Trans Am that was coming onto the Skyway from Jersey City. He was off-duty at the time.
Two of the passengers in the car, Ruth Zelaya, 37, and her 2-year-old son, Jose Carlos Zelaya, sustained severe head trauma, said Police Chief Thomas Comey at a press conference on Wednesday in front of Police Headquarters on Erie Street. Both were visiting from Honduras.
The mother was taken to the Jersey City Medical Center while her son was transported to the University Hospital in Newark.
The driver of the Trans Am they were in, Raul Posas-Pineda, and his front seat passenger Carlos Zelaya, husband of Ruth, both suffered minor injuries.
Freibott, who also suffered minor injuries, was suspended without pay pending further inevestigation.
According to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward J. DeFazio, whose office is working with the Jersey City Police on the investigation, Freibott could face five years in prison for assault by auto and at least 10 years or more if the mother or son passes away.
But this accident has brought about a number of questions.Who is Freibott?
On Wednesday, information was already coming out that Freibott was a second cousin of Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Freibott also has had other motor vehicle problems.
A City Hall source said that while Freibott is a cousin of Healy, Healy did not have a close relationship with Friebott.
Healy issued a statement on the accident last week.
“This is a terrible accident,” said Healy. “Regardless of my relationship with Police Officer Freibott, the Jersey City Police Department has quickly taken the appropriate action and he has been charged in this matter. Our main concern right now is the welfare of the Zelaya family, namely mother and child.”
Healy’s spokesperson Maria Pignataro said Healy was making plans to visit the mother and her son on Thursday.
Freibott was a nine-year veteran of the Middletown Police Department until he was transferred to the Jersey City Police Department. According to press reports, Freibott had requested a lateral transfer, which is a process that allows police officers to move from one town’s police department to another without losing their time in the state’s pension and civil service programs.
Another City Hall source said there was no influence on Healy’s part to get Freibott onto the police force.
Friebott also has had problems in the past when in the driver’s seat. Fired and reinstated
An August 22, 2001 article in the Independent, a newspaper based in Holmdel, reported that Freibott was involved in an accident in February of that year in the parking lot of a restaurant in Atlantic Highlands and was later found to have been without a valid license and expired registration at the time. The article went on to report that Freibott in August 2001 was fired from his job.
He would be reinstated by the state’s Merit System Board in 2002.
It was also reported last week that Freibott has also had a number of blemishes on his driving record dating to 1986.
Followup calls to the Jersey City Police Department were not returned before this article went to press. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com