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Housing Cop Arrested for Bronx DWI Crash That Left Partner in Coma

By Tom Liddy | December 24, 2011 11:21am
Rafael Casiano, 44, was charged with vehicular assault and DWI in the crash.
Rafael Casiano, 44, was charged with vehicular assault and DWI in the crash.
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Spencer Platt/Getty Images

MANHATTAN — An off-duty East Village housing cop was arrested for a drunk driving crash in The Bronx that left his partner in a medically-induced coma, according to officials and reports.

Rafael Casiano, 44, was driving on the Cross Bronx Expressway near the Bronx River Parkway at 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 23 when another driver cut him off, according to police sources.

Casiano swerved, smashing into a divider, the sources said, leaving his fellow officer, also assigned to Manhattan housing, with a fractured skull, sources said.

The Daily News said that the seriously injured cop, reportedly Casiano's partner, was in a medically induced coma. Both officers were assigned to the East Village, according to the Post.

Police could not immediately confirm those details.

Both men were taken to Jacobi Hospital.

Casiano, who was suspended, faces vehicular assault and DWI charges, cops said.