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Apr 26th

Video surfaces of third State Police-escorted exoctic car racing on Garden State Parkway

njstatepollogo032310_optA video obtained by NBC-TV New York shows a pack of luxury exotic cars racing north on the Garden State Parkway on March 31, the day after some 25 to 30 of the vehicles sped south on the tool road to Atlantic City at over 100 miles per hour while under the escort of at least two marked State Police cars, endangering and enraging other motorists.

In the video, a State Police car is seen speeding in the middle of the pack trying to keep up.

It’s the third known case of exotic cars racing along the parkway while under State Police escort. The cars raced in and out of traffic surprising other motorists and cutting in front of other vehicles at near-collision range. The other trooper-escorted speeding happened on the parkway in 2010.

The third known race is another angle to the investigation into the out of control escorts by the state Attorney General’s office and State Police Internal Affairs.

Two troopers, Sgt. 1st Class Nadir Nassry, of Phillipsburg, as assistant commander at the Totowa Station, and Trooper Joseph Ventrella of Bloomfield have been suspended without pay for their role in the March 30 incident. Lt. Phillip Gundlah, the station commander has been transferred.

Lou Giliberti of Wayne told NBC New York that he was standing in a friend's driveway on Valley Road in Wayne on March 31 when he saw the caravan of Lamborghinis and Porches and other high-end cars come off the Hamburg Turnpike going "very fast" with a State Police police car in front.

"I thought that because they had the escort they could do what they want," Gilbert told NBC.

Gilberti told NBC it appeared the cars were returning to the home of former New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs’ house nearby. Jacobs, an exotic car enthusiast, is known to have taken part in the March 30 caravan.

Nassry's attorney, Charles Sciarra, told The Star-Ledger the sergeant arranged the escort to Atlantic City after being contacted by Jacobs, his longtime friend.

Mike Horan, a state Motor Vehicle Commission spokesman, told The Star-Ledger Nassry has been involved in four accidents as a private citizen — in 1986, 1987, 2004 and 2008 — but no violations were issued. Horan said Nassry was also stopped for speeding and issued a ticket in 1990. Ventrella was ticketed for following too closely in 2005 and was involved in an accident in 2006, but was not issued a violation, Horan told the newspaper.

State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes told The Star-Ledger it appears the March 30 and 31 escorts may not have been authorized.

"We can't have actions taken by the State Police that put the public safety at risk," Fuentes said.

Charles Sciarra, the attorney for Nassry, told The Star-Ledger that his own investigation indicates the State Police have escorted "dozens" of similar caravans in the past, though not at high speeds.

"We are doing our own investigation into the frequency and nature of these escorts, and we already have dozens of examples," Sciarra said.

Fuentes has taken the position that decisions on escorts are made by station commanders and that he plays no role in them. He has described the 2010 and March 30 caravans as "an aberration."

State officials attempted several times to clarify his statements to The Star-Ledger. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office, Paul Loriquet, said routine escorts happen all the time, but, "Whenever there’s a special request, it’s got to go through the superintendent." Loriquet declined to say sports car caravans qualified as special requests.

Lt. Stephen Jones, a spokesman for Fuentes, when asked about the colonel’s role in the process, reiterated to The Star-Ledger that approvals rest with station commanders.

--TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

 

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