Bergen officer charged with DWI after flipping ATV on street

CLIFFVIEW PILOT SCOOP: Wyckoff police charged a Midland Park cop with DWI after he flipped an ATV on a local street after participating in a drinking and driving demonstration.

Midland Park P.O. Joseph B. Gaeta

Officer Joseph B. Gaeta, 31, was behind the wheel of an ATV quad vehicle that crashed at the intersection of Godwin Avenue and Greenhaven Road just before 3:15 Thursday afternoon, Wyckoff Chief Benjamin Fox said..

Gaeta, a patrol officer in Midland Park, "had earlier been at the Bergen County Police Academy [in Mahwah] where he attended a class in DWI arrests taught by the New Jersey State Police," Fox said. "Gaeta was a controlled drinking subject in the class, during which he is given measured amounts of alcohol.

"Police officers attending the class have the opportunity to view the drinking subject take field sobriety tests while sober, and then again later in the day after alcohol is consumed, so as to measure the differences in their physical abilities," the chief said.

"Gaeta was given a breath test while at the class that indicated his blood alcohol level was .13%. He was driven home from the police academy by another police officer," Fox said. "After returning home, Gaeta [illegally] drove a four wheel ATV vehicle on Godwin Avenue."

He was trying to make a right onto Greenhaven Road when he lost control and flipped the vehicle, the chief said.

Gaeta sustained serious facial injuries and was taken by the Wyckoff Volunteer Ambulance Corps to Hackensack University Medical Center, where he submitted a blood sample, Fox said.

The chief said Gaeta was then charged with DWI, in addition to several motor vehicle offenses.