A Pennsylvania State Police accident investigator accused of drunken driving had a nearly empty bottle of vodka between his knees when he was found slumped over his car's steering wheel in December, according to court documents.
Officers said Cpl. John Quigg Jr. was off duty when found in a Honda that had coasted to a stop against the guard rail along Route 422 in Upper Merion just after 9 p.m. Dec. 17. Quigg was not injured and damage to the car was minor, court records said.
Quigg's attorney, Timothy Woodward Sr., said yesterday that the officer's blood-alcohol level was 0.30. A person is considered legally drunk in Pennsylvania when blood alcohol is 0.08 or greater.
District Judge William Maruszczak said Quigg appeared in his King of Prussia court in an unscheduled hearing Wednesday to waive a hearing, and will stand trial. The appearance had been set for yesterday.
Quigg, 48, of Wyndmoor, who helped supervise sobriety checkpoints in the Philadelphia area, was charged with drunken driving, reckless driving, and violating the open-container law.
In an interview yesterday, Woodward portrayed Quigg as a "dedicated, hard-working police officer who made a mistake and deeply regrets it. He's remorseful, and he's doing everything he can to address it."
Woodward said Quigg had completed a 30-day inpatient program at the Caron Treatment Center in Wernersville, Pa.
He said, "I think he should be made to answer like any other citizen for what he's done, but I don't think he should be held to a higher standard, either, just because he's a police officer."
Quigg has spent more than 20 years doing crash reconstruction and investigations from his office at the Belmont Barracks. He is also trained to assess the behavior of drivers under the influence of drugs.
At the time of the incident, Quigg was assigned to the Collision Accident Reconstruction Specialist Unit. The unit reconstructs crashes on major highways and in some municipalities.
Quigg was assigned to a desk job after the December accident and "won't be on the road," a state police spokesperson said.
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