Middletown Wants To Bar Ex-Cop In DWI From Future Public Jobs

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown has now filed a lawsuit against a former MTPD sergeant who was charged in a 2019 drunk driving accident in New York state, where he admitted to DWI and to leaving the scene of a collision that left a motorcyclist seriously injured.

The lawsuit seeks to prevent the former sergeant, Carl Roth, 51, from holding any future public employment in Middletown or anywhere in the state of New Jersey. Because Roth was prosecuted and convicted in New York state last year, his conviction did not come with an automatic provision stating he had to resign and could never again work in New Jersey public employment.

“Middletown has zero tolerance for any public employee who commits a criminal act and was compelled to independently seek forfeiture in the absence of such action by prosecutors," said Middletown Twp. in a statement.

Middletown Township filed the lawsuit Monday of this week, April 19, in Monmouth County Superior Court. The suit was signed by Middletown Police Chief R. Craig Weber.

As Patch reported at the time, Roth was arrested on the evening of July 13, 2019 in Greene County, the Catskills.

New York State Police said while driving his Mercedes at 9 p.m. on that date, Roth collided with a man on a motorcycle at the intersection of Rts. 23 and 17 in the town of Ashland, and then drove away. The motorcyclist was found by State Police lying in a ditch by the side of the road with a broken leg. Left behind was the front license plate of the car that hit him.

"The defendant drove from and left with scene without contacting emergency services or speaking with the victim," read a transcript from Roth's trial, where he ultimately pleaded guilty.

Roth was found by state troopers a few miles down the same road. The Mercedes he was sitting in had suffered significant damage to its front and had broken down, and the back license plate of his Mercedes matched the license plate at the scene, State Police said at the time. Roth was also visibly intoxicated and he refused a breathalyzer test, said police.

Roth was charged with DWI, leaving the scene of an accident where a person was injured, as well as vehicular assault, both felony charges.

Two days after he was arrested, the Middletown Police Department suspended him without pay. As is required by state law, Middletown Police also urged him to seek alcohol counseling via formal letter.

On Feb. 18 of last year, Roth pleaded guilty in New York court to operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor, and leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious physical injury, a felony in New York state. Its analogous charge in New Jersey is knowingly leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious bodily injury, a third-degree crime.

In both states, the crime carries jail time, up to four years.

However, Roth did not get jail time. A New York state judge sentenced him to five years probation, a six months loss of his license, and he had to pay a $3,500 fine and $1,700 in restitution to the victim, according to exhibits in Middletown's lawsuit.

In its lawsuit this week, Middletown wants a Monmouth County judge to enter "an order of forfeiture" to Roth and have him permanently removed from the Middletown police force, and barred from a future taxpayer-funded job anywhere in the state.

A call by Patch to Roth's listed address in Leonardo was not returned, and neither was a call to his lawyer in New York state.

Roth was a police officer in Middletown from about 1997 to the time of his arrest. He was paid a salary of $130,375 a year as a Middletown police sergeant, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Initial Patch report: Middletown Police Sgt. Charged With DWI, Leaving Accident Scene (August 2019)

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