New Jersey DWI Lawyer Blog
Regardless of where a motorist receives a traffic citation or summons for drunken driving, be it Monmouth, Hudson, Union or Somerset County, being charged with drunken driving is nothing to sneeze at, especially in the Garden State. Aside from the heavy monetary penalties, one’s career, personal relationships and standing in the community can be adversely affected simply be an arrest, much less an actual conviction.
Representing motorists accused of driving under the influence is the job of qualified New Jersey DWI defense attorneys, such as the experienced drunk driving lawyers at my firm. While no one can predict the outcome of a drunk driving case, the odds are that much worse in matters involving property damage and personal injury. Without a doubt, nobody should wish for a DWI or drug DUI arrest in connection with a fatal traffic accident.
Nevertheless, fatalities involving alleged drunken driving occur with a fair amount of frequency here in Jersey and elsewhere across the country. This is not to say that police or the courts are jaded when it comes to arrests following fatal DWI accidents; it’s well understood that the authorities take a very dim view of drivers accused of fatal car crashes where alcohol or prescription drug use may have been involved.
Over the years, the state of New Jersey has become very strict with regard to motorists charged with driving under the influence of beer, wine or hard liquor. Drivers impaired as a result of doctor-prescribed meds or illegal substances, such as marijuana and cocaine, can also be pursued with an extremely zealous prosecution. For certain, instances like these are no time to try and go it alone.
Anytime a motorist is put on trial for a fatal alcohol-related traffic accident, the cards can already be stacked against that individual, especially in terms of resolve on the part of the municipal prosecutor. Such could be the case for a 25-year-old man who allegedly drove drunk and killed a 76-year-old man in Ocean County last fall.
According to news reports, the Stafford Twp. driver was driving along a stretch of Mermaid Dr. when his vehicle allegedly hit a man standing nearby the roadway. The accident happened way back on September 21 of last year when Robert Kusznikow apparently lost control of his Ford pickup, which left the road, striking a utility pole and then hitting the victim, Michael Grasso Jr. The older man died from multiple traumatic injuries, according to an autopsy carried out after the accident.
A few weeks after the incident, police issued the Stafford Twp. resident a traffic citation for reckless driving and failure to maintain a lane leading to the fatal crash. According to Ocean County police, the man had a previous record of license suspensions on seven different occasions, three of those for driving under the influence.
Then, a couple months after that accident, Kuszinkow was arrested by police on charges of vehicular homicide in relation to that September accident. An Ocean County Superior Court judge set the defendant’s bail at $150,000.
Stafford Township man, 25, arrested on vehicular homicide charges in 76-year-old’s death, PressofAtlanticCity.com, December 15, 2011