Edison Police Officer Ioannis Mpletsakis has a reason to strut this week. He was, for all intents and purposes, exonerated by a state Superior Court judge after a very shameful and revealing episode during the summer of 2005.
Mpletsakis was involved in an accident while driving his BMW on Route 27 in June 2005. It appeared that he had rear-ended a truck and caused considerable damage to his vehicle and minor injury to the driver of the truck.
It is what happened next that gave Mpletsakis his rather comical, if unfortunate, moniker – “naked cop.”
Mpletsakis had been driving in the nude, a result of what he said were wet swimming trunks that he did not want to ruin the seat of his car. After the accident, he did what anyone caught by police in the buff might do, he ran and hid in a bush.
When all was said and done, Mpletsakis was found not guilty of leaving the scene of a crime and his nudity did not bring criminal punishment against him. He did lose his job with the Edison Police Department, however, due to a conviction for hindering apprehension, a conviction that was overturned this week by Superior Court Judge Melvin Gelade.
With the possibility of criminal punishment behind him, there is only one question left to be answered. Should he get his job back?
We believe the answer to that is a firm no. Mpletsakis’ actions were at best an unfortunate lapse of judgment by a man who should know better. He swore to uphold the law and decided not to apply that law to himself. What is worse, his actions brought retribution on the officers who found him and allowed him to return home, get clothes and return to the scene of the accident.
Mpletsakis should have been a role model as an upstanding citizen, instead his actions have become a joke. He does not deserve to remain a police officer, he forfeited that right the second he removed his wet bathing suit and put his foot on the gas.
Mpletsakis’ attorney, Darren Gelber, said that a letter has been sent to Edison Police Chief George Mieczkowski demanding that Mpletsakis be reinstated. He argues that the termination of his client was because of the conviction against him. Without a conviction, there should be no termination.
The problem with that is it is missing the point. He should not have lost his job because he was convicted of hindering apprehension. He should have lost his job because of the gross conduct unbecoming an officer he committed by driving naked.
Mieczkowski said that the internal investigation into Mpletsakis’ actions is ongoing. We urge the police chief to permanently dismiss Mpletsakis, and do it quickly. Mpletsakis has proved he cannot be trusted to be a cop. The people of Edison deserve better than this.