Ex-NYPD commander pleads guilty to off-duty drunk driving crash coverup
A former NYPD commander pleaded guilty Wednesday to covering up an off-duty drunk driving crash with a cabbie on a Midtown Manhattan street in 2022, officials said.
Former NYPD deputy inspector Paul Zangrilli, 44, had already been terminated from his high-ranking post — 18 days before he could retire with a full pension.
A Manhattan judge sentenced him to a 90-day license suspension and a three-year conditional discharge that prevents him from seeking future employment with the NYPD.
Prosecutors said Zangrilli betrayed his badge when he tried to cover up an Aug. 16, 2022 crash with a city cabbie following a night of binge drinking with girlfriend Nikole Rupple, 35, at a Midtown bar.
'Members of law enforcement, particularly those in leadership positions, must obey the laws they are entrusted to enforce,' Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement. 'Former Deputy Inspector Zangrilli misused his authority to cover up a dangerous drunk driving incident. Public servants who abuse their positions of power and violate the trust of the people they serve will face consequences.'
Prosecutors said the couple spent about three hours at the American Whiskey bar before getting into the inspector's NYPD-issued vehicle and heading home.
At the bar, Zangrilli, a 19-year veteran, downed around 10 shots of alcohol, according to court documents. He did not get behind the wheel. Instead he let Rupple drive the city vehicle, even though she had seven shots of alcohol and three beers, the court records said.
She didn't get far. Shortly after 8:30 p.m. Rupple crashed into a yellow cab at W. 30th St. and 10th Ave. — just a few blocks from the bar — and sped away without stopping.
Rupple parked the car a few blocks away on 10th Ave., and the two switched places, officials said.The cabbie caught up with the couple at a red light on W. 34th 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 instructed the uniform officer to leave the area without instructing her to complete a police accident report, officials said. Zangrilli then called a duty captain and informed them his vehicle was involved in a collision. He instucted Rupple to take off, and told the responding duty captain that he was operating the vehicle at the time of the crash, officials said.
Zangrilli offered the cab driver $500 and then $1,000 to avoid an insurance exchange, according to prosecutors.
Zangrilli 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.
He was arrested on June 12, 2024, and was fired from the NYPD in December following a department trial.
Zangrilli pleaded guilty to tampering with physical evidence, falsifying business records, obstructing governmental administration, official misconduct and operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol.
Rupple also pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting; she was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge
Zangrilli joined the NYPD in January 2005. He was the commanding officer of the Fifth Precinct in Chinatown when the crash occurred.
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