Pittsburgh Officer Accused Of Driving Drunk With Son In Car
PLUM, Pa. (KDKA) - A Pittsburgh police officer is under investigation, accused of causing a traffic accident while driving drunk.
According to Pittsburgh Public Safety, officer Tariq Jamal-Francis is off the job without pay until the investigation wraps up.
The crash happened in Plum near the four-way intersection of Saltsburg and North Texas roads. Officer Jamal-Francis allegedly got behind the wheel drunk to drive his teenage son to practice.
"Imagine a car stopped at a stop sign, several cars as well in front of it, a Dodge Durango coming up from behind, smashing into our client's car causing injury, leaving, hitting an embankment and then further down the road eventually being found by police," said Phil DiLucente, the crash victim's attorney.
DiLucente represents the woman who allegedly bore the brunt of the crash.
"We don't know fast the Dodge Durango was going at that juncture, but the body injury on the motor vehicle, as well as what our client's suffering now is substantial."
Pittsburgh Police tell KDKA's Meghan Schiller Jamal-Francis is out without pay and on administrative leave. According to the criminal complaint, Jamal-Francis kept saying to Plum officers "that he did it and should have got his son a ride to practice."
"It has been reported that it is a Pittsburgh police officer who was inebriated, at least the alleged charges are going to be of DUI. We know from the accident report that there was blood taken at the hospital," said DiLucente.
We do not yet know the results of that blood test, but Jamal-Francis faces charges including DUI and endangering the welfare of his 17-year-old son, who was sitting in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.
"It was a few weeks ago, Nov. 12, and this was approximately two, three o'clock in the afternoon and so this was not a situation where there are not multiple witnesses. This is not a situation that is a 'who done it.' It's a situation of clear liability," said DiLucente.
The attorney representing Jamal-Francis, James Eugene DePasquale, tells KDKA "it was an unfortunate incident and Tariq is in the process of doing everything that he can to make sure it never happens again."