Off-duty Alpine police officer charged with DWI in Linden crash


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