One of the most prolific federal drug prosecutors in the country was caught offering his business card to police to avoid being charged with a hit-and-run while his blood-alcohol level exceeded twice the legal limit, according to a report.
Joseph Ruddy, 59, was outside his home with his business card in hand when Tampa Police Department officers arrived to investigate a Fourth of July crash.
In images obtained by the Associated Press, Ruddy appears very intoxicated, hunched over his truck when police arrive.
He waves his card in the direction of the approaching officers as he tries to stand up.
“What are you trying to give me?” the officer asks.
“You realize when they take the footage from my body camera and see this, this is going to go really bad.”
A witness told police that Ruddy didn’t try to “hit the brakes” when he crashed, according to the outlet.
“He kept going and went all the way off. I said, ‘No, she’s going to hurt someone.’ So I followed him until I got the license plate number and I just called and reported it,” the witness said.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Ruddy is seen trying to hand over his Justice Department business card after a hit-and-run on July 4, 2023.AP
Ruddy was arrested and booked into the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.AP
The footage shows Ruddy admitting that he fled the scene of the hit-and-run.
“You hit a vehicle and ran. You ran because you’re drunk. “You probably didn’t realize you crashed the vehicle,” the officer says, to which Ruddy seemingly nods, pausing briefly before saying, “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you stop?” the officer asks.
“I didn’t realize it was that serious,” the prosecutor responds with difficulty.
Ruddy was seen barely able to stand upright when officers arrived at his home.AP
He was over twice the legal limit and had a blood alcohol level of 0.17%.
Ruddy was charged with driving under the influence with property damage and was not charged with leaving the scene of the accident.
He is accused of sideswiping a pickup truck with the driver inside waiting to turn at a red light, cutting a side mirror and ripping off another part of the vehicle, which was found lodged in the fender of Ruddy’s truck.
More than two months after the incident, Ruddy had represented the United States in court last week despite being charged with DUI.
The veteran prosecutor is due in court for his case on September 27.AP
Ruddy was in court last Friday during a plea deal in the case of a Brazilian man detained by the U.S. Coast Guard with more than 3.3 tons of cocaine aboard a sailboat off Guinea in West Africa.
The Justice Department confirmed to the outlet Wednesday that the prosecutor had been removed from three pending criminal cases and removed from his supervisory role at the US Attorney’s Office in Tampa.
Ruddy is known as one of the creators of Operation Panama Express (PANEX), which is a task force launched in 2000 with agents from the FBI, DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and service members from the Coast Guard. of the US to combat cocaine smuggling by sea.
According to the report, more than 90% of US Coast Guard drug interdictions at sea can be attributed to intelligence provided by PANEX.
Most of the cases involving the 888 metric tons of cocaine destroyed by the branch and the 2,776 suspected smugglers arrested between 2018 and 2022 were handled by Ruddy and his colleagues in Tampa.
Ruddy is due in court in his case on September 27.
With postal cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn