STATEN ISLAND — A former Linden police officer who survived a the fatal wrong-way car crash that killed two people said he and his fellow officer who was in the driver seat downed shots of whiskey and drinks in a New Jersey bar before they headed to a Staten Island strip club to continue to party, according to his testimony.
Ex-officer Patrick Kudlac testified Wednesday at the Staten Island Supreme Court trial for fellow police officer Pedro Abad that the pair drank two Jack and Cokes and two shots of Jack Daniels Tennessee Fire during dinner with a friend inside Central Park bar in Roselle, New Jersey, at approximately 8 p.m. on March 19, 2015.
He said he doesn't remember leaving the restaurant to head to to Curves Gentlemen's Club, at 2945 Arthur Kill Rd., or what happened inside there, but remembers getting into Abad's car to go home early on March 20, 2015. The last thing he remembers was telling his fellow passengers to put their seat belts on then fell asleep. He awoke to the sound of chaos.
"I heard the truck horn and I felt the car swerve," Kudlac testified Wednesday. "I saw the headlights of the truck and I saw the driver swerve."
Abad slammed into a tractor trailer while driving the wrong way up the West Shore Expressway. The crash killed Joseph Rodriguez, 28, and Linden police officer Frank Viggiano, 28.
Abad was later hit with 27 charges — which include aggravated vehicular homicide, vehicular manslaughter, assault and driving while intoxicated. He had a .24 percent blood alcohol content while he was behind the wheel, triple the legal limit of .08 percent, prosecutors said. He has pleaded guilty to all charges.
The crash put Kudlac in a medically induced coma for two months and required him to get several surgeries to his stomach because his seatbelt pierced his innards. Kudlac had to quit his job as a police officer because his injuries don't allow him to run or lift heavy objects anymore.
In court, Kudlac said he knew Abad since 2009 and shadowed him while he was an auxiliary police office in Linden before he joined the force about two years before the crash. They started to drift apart before the crash because of Abad's "behavior," Kudlac testified.
Still, the pair went to get dinner with another friend, Michael Rizzo, at Central Park bar in Roselle, New Jersey, on March 19, 2015 at about 8 p.m..
Kudlac said Abad took a photo of a third round of shots and posted it on Instagram that night, but doesn't remember if Abad drank it.
Kudlac said Abad met Rodriguez at the bar and the three and Viggiano ended up in Curves Gentlemen's Club, at 2945 Arthur Kill Rd., but Kudlac doesn't remember leaving the venue or much of what happened after dinner.
Kudlac said he hasn't spoken to Abad since the crash.
Abad's lawyer, Gallucci, speaking speaking outside of the court, insisted that Abad wasn't drunk while behind the wheel — despite his blood alcohol content — but instead might have fallen asleep and pushed on the gas.
"[It was] a horrible, horrible, tragic accident, that happens everyday," said Gallucci. "It was 4:30 in the morning, he could've fallen asleep at the wheel."
Gallucci said Kudiac was wrong and that the Instagram picture Abad took that night was of the first round of drinks, not a third. He also claimed that enough time had passed between the bar and strip club for Abad to be sober from the whiskey, and insisted that Abad only had, at most, two drinks.
"There's actually six hours of time that was missing," Gallucci said. "There's really not a lot of drinking going on."
Gallucci said Abad reached out to try to talk to Kudlac afterwards.
A bartender at the strip club previously testified that Abad was a regular at the spot, visiting it at least 70 times before. Kudlac said he went with Abad there at least two times before the crash.
Abad also had major injuries from the crash — and needed to be taken into his arraignment in a wheelchair. He has been reciting Bible verses to reporters on his way into court most mornings since the trial started, and told NJ.com Wednesday that he thought the trial was going "fantastic" before he recited Romans 12:12.
Kudlac sued Curves and Central Park bar last year with the family of Rodriguez for overserving Abad despite him "showing signs of being visibly intoxicated," according to the suit.
