STATEN ISLAND — A judge on Wednesday may set a trial date for an ex-Linden police officer charged with drunken driving in a wrong-way crash that left two passengers in his car dead.
Pedro Abad, 29, who faces a 27-count indictment that includes charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, will face a trial unless he decides to accept a plea-agreement.
Judge Mario F. Mattei told the attorneys to report Wednesday on plea negotiations, and that if the case is not resolved, he will set dates for pre-trial hearings and a trial.
After Abad’s last hearing in January, his attorney, Mario Gallucci, was expected to discuss possible plea offers with Assistant District Attorney Mark Palladino.
Abad was charged following a March 20, 2015 crash on the West Shore Expressway in Staten Island. He was driving back to New Jersey shortly before 5 a.m. after a night at the strip club Curves, and turned the wrong way onto the highway, where crashed head-on into a truck, authorities have said.
Fellow Linden police officer Frank Viggiano, and Linden resident Joseph Pulibet Rodriguez, both 28, were killed in the crash. A third Linden officer, Patrik Kudlac, 24, was critically injured, as was Abad.
Kudlac was forced to resign from the department. Abad was fired from the department in August 2015 after he was unable to return to duty because of his injuries.
State Island authorities have said Abad had a blood-alcohol level of .24, three times the legal limit, at the time of the crash.
If Abad goes to trial, Gallucci has said he will seek to prohibit the district attorney from using the ex-officer’s two prior drunken-driving arrests as evidence.
Gallucci said he wants other prior actions, including Instagram photos allegedly posted by an ex-Linden cop showing shots of whisky at a bar in the hours prior to a fatal crash, also prohibited from being used as evidence.
Abad was charged with drunken driving after crashing into a store in Roselle in January 2011, but that charge was later dismissed. He also charged with drunken driving after hitting a parked car in Rahway in February 2013. He pleaded guilty in that case and had his license suspended for six months.
Abad has pleaded not guilty to charges involving the March 2015 crash.
Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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