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SCHENECTADY -- A suspended city police officer arrested over the weekend for driving away from an accident at Ellis Hospital was arraigned in City Court this morning.

     
City Court Judge Guido Loyola set John Lewis' bail at $25,000 but the cop, already facing charges for a previous driving arrest and for hacking into an ex-girlfriend's e-mail, is scheduled to appear today in Schenectady County Court.

When he was arraigned in the hacking case, County Judge Karen Drago ordered him to stay out of trouble.

Lewis was arrested Saturday night and charged with first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation, driving while intoxicated and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.

After the arrest, Lewis was arraigned before Schenectady City Court Judge Christine Clark and sent to jail without bail.

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Cop's DWI trial opens
Prosecutors allege John Lewis had officers turn off cameras after crash

By LAUREN STANFORTH, Staff writer
First published in print: Tuesday, February 9, 2010

SCHENECTADY -- City police officer John Lewis told two rookie cops to turn off their car camera and take him home after he allegedly caused a drunken crash on Eastern Avenue in December 2008, a prosecutor said during open statements in Lewis' DWI trial Monday.

The officers obliged, and Lewis was confronted by other city police officers two hours later at his Oregon Avenue home, said Schenectady County Assistant District Attorney Michael Tiffany during the bench trial being held in City Court in front of Judge Guido Loyola.
Tiffany said outside court Monday he won't divulge details yet about the officers' who initially responded and their actions, but that video recorded at the scene will be shown in court.

Lewis' Dec. 2008 arrest is one of many charges the troubled cop is facing after he was acquitted of harassing his ex-wife during another bench trial in March 2008. He is currently being held without bail in Schenectady County Jail after facing a second DWI charge in relation to an accident in the Ellis Hospital parking lot Jan. 23.........>>>>............>>>>..............Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspS.....ECTADY#ixzz0f2nlXyZD

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EDITORIALS
Schenectady’s Keystone Kops ride again

    Too bad that Schenectady City Court Judge Guido Loyola won’t have the benefit of using city cop John Lewis’ lengthy list of transgressions to help him decide if Lewis was guilty of driving drunk on Dec. 27, 2008 — when he rammed a parked car on Eastern Avenue at 4:30 in the morning. All he’s allowed to weigh is the evidence presented by the prosecution, which was substantially compromised by the incompetence and/or dishonesty of the cops who attended to him.
    The arrest of Lewis was a near-total botch job — typical of the way the department has handled alleged legal infractions by its members, both in the past and since. Not only did Daniel Bean and Matthew Overocker, the rookie cops who responded to the call, drive Lewis home (at his request, before another officer called to the scene could observe him), they didn’t bother to turn their car’s video camera on him during the ride — as instructed by Lewis himself.
    As to whether they turned their audio tape recorder off is open to conjecture, but it’s hard not to reach that conclusion given that the last things heard before the recording went dead was Lewis telling them to shut up and demanding to know if their microphone was on.
    Audio and video tapes would have been helpful in determining whether Lewis was drunk at the accident scene or got himself that way in the short time he was home and unsupervised before police concluded he should be given a chemical test — and returned to his house to give him one. When the test was finally administered, nearly four hours later, he blew a 0.21, nearly three times New York’s legal limit. But Lewis’ assertion at the trial last week, that he was so upset at home after the accident he drank an entire bottle of whiskey, can’t help but undermine the prosecution’s claim that he was drunk when the accident occurred. ............>>>>............>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r02401&AppName=1

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Troubled cop cleared in 2008 drunken driving crash

By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer
Last updated: 2:26 p.m., Wednesday, February 17, 2010

SCHENECTADY -- Fighting to keep his job amid criminal and internal charges, jailed city cop John Lewis won a legal victory today when a judge acquitted him of drunk driving charges.

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City Court Judge Guido Loyola said there simply was not enough evidence to convict Lewis, 40, of driving while intoxicated charges related to his arrest the day after Christmas 2008. The judge also dismissed a traffic ticket for speeding.

The judge did convict Lewis of traffic infractions for failure to drive on the proper side of the roadway and ordered him to pay a $160 fine.

"It was the right decision and we're pleased," said Lewis' attorney, Michael Horan. "I think the judge focused on the essential elements of the crime, which was the testimony of the officers on the scene, whether they observed any indication that the defendant was intoxicated."

Assistant District Attorney Michael Tiffany said, "We put the facts out there and the judge makes the determination. We felt there were sufficient facts to find him guilty."

When asked about trial testimony that officers on the scene turned off a police car video camera and microphones, Tiffany said, "Why would somebody want to turn off their cameras and microphones and what conclusions can you draw from that?"

It's the second time Loyola has exonerated Lewis. In March 2008, Loyola, in another bench trial, cleared Lewis of harassment related to allegations he had fought with his ex-wife over custody of their young son.

But his legal woes are far from over and top police officials have publicly said they want him fired.

He is currently being held without bail in Schenectady County Jail after facing a second DWI charge in relation to a Jan. 23 accident in the Ellis Hospital parking lot.

Lewis, who his attorney said has a drinking problem, also pleaded not guilty to a 10-count indictment accusing him of using a former girlfriend's computer to hack into his ex-wife's e-mail accounts. He has filed a notice of claim contending the city conspired with his ex-wife to get him fired.

In December, Lewis suffered a stab wound in Massachusetts, allegedly at the hands of his girlfriend..........>>>>.............>>>>...........Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=901722#ixzz0fpV3xwdz

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But his legal woes are far from over

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The fix is in

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c'monnnnnnnnnnnnnn what did you expect?