BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
An off-duty Alpine police officer was charged with driving while
intoxicated after being involved in a motor vehicle accident that injured a
19-year-old man in Linden, authorities said Friday. The officer, Wendell
Simpson, was issued a summons by the Linden police, said a spokesman for the
Union County prosecutor’s office, Mark Spivey. The man who was injured in the
accident, which occurred at 2:30 a.m. Thursday, was taken to University
Hospital in Newark where he was in stable condition Friday night, Spivey said.
Spivey said that he did not have details about the accident and that the Linden
police department was the lead investigative agency in the matter. Linden
police were unavailable to provide information about the accident Friday
evening. The chief of the Alpine police, Chris Belcolle, acknowledged that
Simpson was one of his officers and said that Simpson was off duty in his
personal vehicle at the time of the accident. Belcolle declined to say whether
Simpson will be suspended during the investigation of the accident. Email:
koloff@northjersey.com