forward with kind
words for fired cop
Firefighters come
forward with kind
words for fired cop
By joyce Blay
Staff Writer
In a demonstration of solidarity for dismissed Lakewood police officer Wayne Truex, Lakewood volunteer firefighters filled the municipal building auditorium for the Township Committee’s Dec. 19 meeting.
Truex, 49, was fired from the Lakewood Police Department last month following an internal affairs investigation into the death of Lester Eldridge, 65, of Elmhurst, N.Y., whom Truex struck and killed with his patrol car while on duty Aug. 30.
Although Truex was cleared of any criminal liability in the incident, he was subsequently fired following a denial in his statement to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office of an earlier admission of having had several beers hours before the accident. Truex had refused four times to take a blood test immediately after the accident to determine if he was under the influence of alcohol at the time it occurred.
Anthony Dunham, chief of the Lakewood Volunteer Fire Department, rose from his seat to address the room after Mayor Raymond Coles opened the meeting to public comment.
After citing a long list of Truex’s record of service to the community as a firefighter, a member of the first aid squad and a forest firefighter, Dunham spoke emotionally about why his department and members of the police department for which Truex worked felt that he was unjustly fired.
"(We) feel his punishment is improper and unjust. (We feel) he’s been thrown out like a pair of old shoes," Dunham said.
Lenny Nieves, president of the Lakewood Policeman’s Benevolent Association, was just as vocal about what he said was an unjust disciplinary action taken against Truex.
"He was cleared by the Prosecutor’s Office and then fired anyway," Nieves said. "After all the hoops are jumped through,…he should be given back his job."
Truex held an important place in the heart of one of those who spoke.
"Sitting here, listening to all the beautiful comments from the Lakewood police and fire department, I began to quiver," Leonard Williams said. "The individual that they’re referring to has inspired the lives of others, and that is worth more than silver and gold. Thank you."
Truex’s plight was also on the mind of Jeffrey Ward, the Matawan attorney representing Stephen Eldridge of Westin, Conn., the only surviving brother of the accident victim in the matter.
Several days before the township meeting, Ward reflected on the accident and its aftermath. He has notified the township that his client intends to sue Lakewood, its police department and Truex in a $5 million civil litigation action.
According to documents Ward produced, Officer Larry Patterson, one of the first two police officers to arrive at the scene of the accident, asked Truex to take a blood test to rule out any possibility that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time. Truex refused, according to the documents, and told Patterson four times that he had had "several beers" hours before, and feared the alcohol might show up in any blood test that he took.
When Patterson could not elicit Truex’s cooperation, he called the on-duty prosecutor at the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office to ask if there was some way to force Truex to take the blood test. According to the documents, Patterson said he could not find any outward evidence that Truex was intoxicated, therefore, he could not make his fellow officer take a Breathalyzer test.
However, Ward said Patterson declined to tell Assistant Prosecutor Tom Cannavo, with whom he spoke that night, of Truex’s admissions — a fact that Ward said would have enabled him to force Truex to take a blood test and resulted in the suppression of possible evidence.
At an earlier interview, Ward did not say whether anyone other than Truex was disciplined in the matter.
In a conciliatory effort to reach out to the brother of the victim, Nieves, the PBA president, and David Sussman, the PBA vice president, had offered to meet with Stephen Eldridge last month, but Ward said he had counseled his client not to accept the invitation.
"I told him, ‘What’s the point?’ " the attorney said.