A Pittsburgh police officer is on unpaid administrative leave after he was charged with rear-ending a car while intoxicated in Plum earlier this month.
The driver of the car he hit, according to police, is WPXI-TV reporter Amy Hudak.
Tariq Jamal-Francis is charged with driving under the influence, endangering the welfare of children, and moving violations in connection with the Nov. 12 incident.
The crash happened about 2:30 p.m. on New Texas Road near Saltsburg Road, according to the criminal complaint. Hudak told officers she’d been rear-ended and the car that struck hers fled the scene. She told police that she recognized the car as belonging to a neighbor.
Police found Jamal-Francis pulled over near Boyce Park Village, and he told officers he’d been in an accident on New Texas Road, authorities wrote, noting that his 17-year-old son was in the front passenger seat. Police said the boy said he’d been injured, but declined treatment.
An officer asked Jamal-Francis if he’d been drinking, according to the complaint, to which he responded he had been. He refused to perform a field sobriety test, according to the complaint, but he consented to having his blood drawn to determine his blood-alcohol content.
Officers said Jamal-Francis kept saying “that he did it and should not have put himself in that position and should have had his son get a ride to practice,” according to the complaint.
Public Safety spokeswoman Cara Cruz said Jamal-Francis was off-duty at the time of the crash, and he remains on unpaid leave.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19.
