STATEN ISLAND — A man who stood alongside Mayor Bill de Blasio as he announced a lifesaving overdose drug would be made available without a prescription has been arrested after police found traces of heroin in his car.
The charges have forced Staten Island's District Attorney Michael McMahon to request another prosecutor try the case because the man arrested is the grandson of one of his fundraisers.
McMahon filed the request for a special prosecutor after the Jan. 6 arrest of James Brenker, 22, because his grandfather, Stuart Brenker, worked as a fundraiser for McMahon's district attorney run and is a longtime friend, a spokesman for McMahon said.
"He knows me a very long, long time. I don't think he has much of a choice in it," the fundraiser, 76, told DNAinfo. "Everybody’s got to be careful of improprieties, I understand that."
In his request, McMahon said that he didn't know James Brenker personally, but since he knows Brenker's grandfather well and Brenker reported he still lived with his parents in a New Springville home owned by Stuart Brenker, he shouldn't prosecute the case.
"He has tremendous morals," Stuart Brenker said about McMahon. "I still think he did the right thing."
On Jan. 6, police pulled over Brenker for driving with tinted windows and officers found a hypodermic needle and a plastic cap with heroin residue inside, the Staten Island Advance reported.
Brenker and his passenger James Gugliara, 37, were arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally possessing a hypodermic instrument, according to court documents.
Brenker and Gugliara are due back in court on March 3 on the charges.
Stuart Brenker said he thought the charges against his grandson were "nonsense" because police did not find any drugs in the car and couldn't prove who the needle belonged to.
"It’s really a nonsensical charge," he said. "It never should be brought."
He said his grandson recently got back blood work which shows he's clean and said more has to be done to help families struggling with addiction.
"He's trying, unfortunately it's a disease, it's an addiction," Stuart Brenker said.
"There's no family that hasn't been touched in someway by this. They need to commit more resources to fighting this."
A DA spokesman said that previous administrations requested special prosecutors to handle cases involving Stuart Brenker's family at least two times in the past.
A city administrative judge will consider McMahon's request. If approved, the Brooklyn district attorney's office generally steps in.
