19-Year-Old with Fake ID Arrested for DWI After Crashing Into Mail Van

Around 4:36 PM on December 30, 2023, Officers Andres Jaramillo, Peter Testa, and Brandon Beal with the Westfield Police Department were dispatched to the scene of a motor vehicle collision involving a 2019 GMC Terrain and Mercedes Metris USPS van in the vicinity of East Broad Street and Wychwood Road. Upon arrival, they made contact with the 47-year-old driver of the USPS van, who informed officers that she was driving westbound on East Broad Street and she had stopped in the shoulder while attempting a make a mail delivery. Around this time, she stated that a vehicle attempting to make a right hand turn from Wychwood Road struck the USPS van.

The officers then spoke with the driver of the GMC, who was identified as 19-year-old Jack. When he was asked to explain what happened, he told the officers “I woke up.” He admitted to having a vape pen with a substance that could cause impairment, but he denied consuming alcohol before operating a motor vehicle. While many of the details were redacted from the police report, it did state that Jack was on something (redacted). The officers called first responders with the Westfield Rescue Squad to evaluate him further, but he eventually signed an RMA (refused medical attention). Based on their suspicion of impairment, they offered Jack an opportunity to participate in field sobriety exercises.

Officer Jaramillo started with the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test. The second exercise was the Walk and Turn test. During the Walk and Turn test, Jack failed to walk heel-to-toe on all steps and stepped off the line on multiple occasions. The final exercise was the One Leg Stand test, and Jack did not raise his foot in the proper fashion and he kept putting his foot down.

Based on the traffic accident and his inability to adequately complete the field sobriety exercises, Officer Jaramillo placed Jack under arrest for driving under the influence. After he was placed under arrest, he was searched and secured in the rear passenger compartment of vehicle #412. Once he was in the police car, he became visibly upset and the Westfield Rescue Squad was called to transport him to Overlook Medical Center. Since his father was the registered owner of the GMC Terrain and he was on scene, the vehicle was released to him instead of being towed pursuant to John’s Law.

Jack was eventually released to a sober adult pending his court appearance at Overlook Medical Center after they signed the Potential Liability Warning form on Jack’s behalf. Officer Jaramillo issued Jack the following traffic summonses: Operating under the influence, reckless driving, and careless driving

Jack was issued an additional summons for Possession of False Government Documents under 2C:21-2.1d because they found a fraudulent New Jersey driver’s license bearing his name which falsely indicated that he was over 21 years of age.

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