NYPD commander fired for for trying to cover up off-duty Manhattan DWI crash
An NYPD commanding officer facing criminal charges for trying to cover up an off-duty drunk-driving crash involving a cabbie has been fired from the force, the Daily News has learned.
NYPD officials confirm Deputy Inspector Paul Zangrilli was fired in late December following a departmental trial. Police sources say he was pushed out 18 days before he could retire with a full pension.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch signed off on Zangrilli's termination, department officials said.
Zangrilli, 44, is still facing criminal charges for allegedly trying to cover up an Aug. 16, 2022, crash with a city cabbie following a night of binge drinking with his girlfriend Nikole Rupple, 35, in Manhattan, officials said.
The couple spent about three hours at the Midtown bar American Whiskey before getting into the inspector's NYPD-issued vehicle and heading home, prosecutors said.
At the bar Zangrilli downed five shots. Rupple had seven shots and three beers but the 19-year NYPD veteran allowed his girlfriend to drive the city vehicle, Manhattan prosecutors said.
As the couple drove past the corner of W. 30th St. and 10th Ave. — just a few blocks from the bar — Rupple crashed into a yellow cab and fled the scene.
The couple switched seats a few minutes after the crash and Zangrilli kept driving north on 10th Ave., authorities say.
The cabbie caught up with the couple at a red light on W. 33rd St. and flagged down a uniformed officer, who pulled over the NYPD vehicle, according to prosecutors.
The cab driver suffered minor back and neck injuries in the crash and claimed Zangrilli was drunk but the responding officer sent the inspector on his way, telling the cabbie to file an accident report at an NYPD precinct.
Zangrilli allegedly offered the cab driver $500 and then $1,000 to avoid an insurance exchange, both in front of the responding officer and after she left, prosecutors said.
He then personally called the owner of the bar and asked him to delete the security video of him and Rupple drinking. The footage was erased but during an investigation the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau was able to recover it.
Zangrilli was arrested on June 12 and charged with tampering with physical evidence, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, obstructing governmental administration, official misconduct and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. Rupple faces charges of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident.
The deputy inspector was released without bail after his arrest. He's expected to return to court on the criminal charges on March 19.
Zangrilli joined the NYPD in January 2005. He was the commanding officer of the Fifth Precinct in Chinatown when the crash occurred.
He was suspended a few days after the crash. When his suspension ended, he was reassigned to the Queens Court Section, NYPD personnel records show.
Calls to Zangrilli and his attorney, Eric Franz, were not immediately returned Tuesday.
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