Assemblyman Paul Moriarty is disputing a charge of driving while intoxicated in his home town yesterday afternoon. He says his arrest yesterday was an “abuse of power” by a Washington Twp. police officer, in the town where he was mayor for 4 years. He says he wasn’t drunk, hadn’t had even a single alcoholic drink.
Gloucester Twp. Patch has him refusing to provide a breath sample via breathalyzer at the police station. He was given a field sobriety test, which Moriarty says he passed. But refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test is against the law in this state, and can result in the same loss of driving privileges as DWI.
Moriarty was mayor of Washington Twp, for 4 years 2004-2008, surviving an effort to recall him organized by a resident in 2006, the year after he was elected to the NJ Assembly. Prior to that, Moriarty was a reporter out of CBS-3 in Philly.
Moriarty sent this statement to press late last night:
This afternoon after spending over an hour at my local car dealership and heading to grab lunch, I was pulled over by a Washington Township Police Officer who claimed I had cut him off at an intersection. I disputed his assertion which led him to order me from my car, submit me to a field sobriety test and issue a summons for DUI. Let me be clear: I had consumed no alcoholic beverages, and this entire episode was an abuse of power.
The Officer that detained me, today, was previously fired from the Washington Township Police Department for allegedly being untruthful in an Internal Affairs Investigation. A court subsequently ordered his reinstatement.
My attorney intends to vigorously defend these allegations, which may include filing charges with Washington Township Police Department’s Internal Affairs.
Moriarty serves LD-4 along with Sen. Fred Madden and Asw Gabriela Mosquera, representing Chesilhurst, Clementon, Gloucester Township, Laurel Springs, Lindenwold, Monroe (Gloucester), Pitman, Washington (Gloucester) and Winslow.