Detective George McNally Charged with Drunk Driving Accident

ALBANY

A veteran detective who helped crack the case of a burglar who killed his partners was charged with drunken driving in an off-duty hit-and-run accident.

Detective George McNally, 54, was suspended for 30 days without pay after his arrest Sunday night, police said.

Police said McNally hit a parked car near the intersection of New Scotland Avenue and Sycamore Street and then drove off. Witnesses provided police with information that led to McNally's arrest. The detective also received a traffic ticket for leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Officials from the Office of Professional Standards went to McNally's Delmar home where police say he refused to submit to an alcohol breath test.

McNally was arraigned Monday morning in City Court. He was released without bail and is scheduled to return to court Jan. 22.

"I am extremely disappointed with the arrest of one of our members for allegedly being involved in a alcohol-related accident," Police Chief James Tuffey said in a prepared statement. The chief said he expected city police officers to act professionally "at all times, and they will be held accountable for their actions,"

McNally is the second member of the department in recent weeks to face charges after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident.

Officer Max Etienne was charged with striking three parked cars with his personal vehicle on Dec. 28. He ticketed on charges of failing to keep right and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

McNally, an Albany police officer for 28 years, has been involved in some high-profile cases.

In 1998, McNally's work was credited with helping identify Gary Evans as the killer of one of his associates, Timothy Rysedorph, 39. At the time, McNally routinely collected forms from antiques shops to help identify cases where stolen merchandise was being sold. When Rysedorph disappeared, McNally visited a shop and was told the victim and Evans often sold merchandise to an antiques dealer.

That led McNally to a pair of stolen cuff links that Evans and Rysedorph had fenced, a critical piece of information that led to a nationwide manhunt, Evans' confession to killing three men he'd known since childhood and his fatal leap off the Menands Bridge after escaping from police custody.

McNally also investigated the 1992 killing of a woman whose boyfriend strangled her and then hung her body out a Washington Avenue window. He also handled the 1997 investigation of the death of an 11-year-old boy in the Albany YMCA wave pool.