Sgt. Vincent Corso is a 23-year veteran of the police department. Watch video
JERSEY CITY -- A police sergeant who was accused of driving "highly intoxicated" in Robbinsville more than two years ago has been disciplined over the incident.
Sgt. Vincent Corso, a 23-year veteran of the department, will lose 15 days as a result of the disciplinary action for three internal charges, according to sources with knowledge of the decision. He will lose five comp days and five vacation days plus five 2017 vacation days, the sources said.
Notice of the disciplinary action was released to police precincts last week.
City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill confirmed that the disciplinary matter is complete, adding that "Sgt. Corso was afforded the same process as any other officer." A police union spokesman declined to comment. Corso could not be reached to comment.
It's not clear how many comp and vacation days Corso has saved up. As of December 2011, the last year for which The Jersey Journal has records, Corso had accumulated 58 comp days and 30 vacation days.
The disciplinary charges stem from a Jan. 30, 2014 incident in Robbinsville, a Mercer County township near Trenton. The details from that night surfaced in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed in May 2015 by ex-Police Chief Robert Cowan. Cowan later dropped the suit.
Corso, 49, was pulled over on Route 130 that January night by Robbinsville police officers, and the traffic stop quickly grew confrontational, according to video and police reports obtained by The Jersey Journal. The officers accused Corso of being drunk and at one point one of them put Corso in a compliance hold after he began struggling with them, according to the video and reports.
Corso was never charged after the traffic stop and Mercer County prosecutors referred the incident to Jersey City police for administrative action.
Cowan alleged that Mayor Steve Fulop asked him to "get rid" of an internal affairs investigation into the incident, and that Fulop and Public Safety Director James Shea moved to put the internal affairs unit under Shea's control instead of Cowan's. City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill has said those allegations are false, while a police union spokesman called Corso the victim of a "witch hunt by a disgraced former police chief."
Cowan abruptly dropped the suit in August 2015.
Corso was disciplined for violating a departmental rule involving cooperation with authorities and two rules regarding the use of weapons. Videos from the Robbinsville officers' cars show Corso resisted their efforts to take his Glock 19 from him after they pulled him over.
Corso was the officer who fatally shot 15-year-old Michael Anglin following a pursuit on Jan. 28, 2000. Corso told investigators probing the shooting that he had been at the now-shuttered Lambert's Tavern five hours before the shooting, but did not drink any alcohol. He told investigators his gun accidentally went off as he struggled with Anglin. Prosecutors ruled the shooting accidental and Corso was not charged. In 2006, the city settled a lawsuit filed by Anglin's family for $2.4 million.
In 2006, Corso was the target of a federal lawsuit alleging he and three other men participated in a fight outside Park Tavern on Nov. 27, 1997. Officers were there for "jug night," an annual pre-Thanksgiving gathering of Saint Peter's Prep alumni. The city settled the suit in 2007, with Corso and four other officers paying $15,000 each to the plaintiff, Sean McGovern, a sheriff's officer.
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.