No breaks for friends of cops

The first time Peter Fedden drunkenly crashed a car on July 30, 2013, his 1999 Chevrolet hurtled across 100 yards of front lawns, flattened two chain-link fences, and rammed into a parked car.

A proper police response to this incident could have saved the 29-year-old’s life. But instead of doing his job, responding Suffolk County Police Officer Michael Althouse did Fedden a favor, covered up the intoxication of this deli-owning pal to police, and gave him a ride home. Less than an hour after the first crash, Fedden grabbed the keys of his mother's 2008 Honda, got back behind the wheel of a car, and slammed into the brick wall of a Hauppauge industrial park at more than 100 mph.

Fedden’s special treatment is one travesty. His death, resulting from that special treatment, is another. Fortunately, Fedden didn't cause another tragedy that night involving others on those streets.

The county tried to fire Althouse, but an arbitrator allowed only the wrist-slap of counseling him to alert dispatchers when he transported civilians in the future, as he’d failed to do with Fedden. Althouse retired in 2019 at age 54, with an annual pension of $136,131. From his smooth path, other officers learned that poor policing that ignores procedure and incorporates lies will go unpunished.

And if Suffolk County is found liable in the lawsuit Fedden’s mother filed against it and the bar where Fedden drank, taxpayers will again rue the costly side effect of shoddy policing: a large payout.

According to the Newsday story which cited police reports and witnesses, Fedden, who owned the Commack Breakfast deli, was a pal to Suffolk cops. He gave them free meals and took $20 bills for their retail purchases, returning $19 in change no matter the tab.

When Fedden had that first crash, he’d reportedly just consumed 20 ounces of whiskey and smoked marijuana. A witness said Fedden emerged from his wrecked car shouting, “I’m drunk, I’m drunk.” His autopsy showed a blood-alcohol level of .15 at the time of death, nearly twice the legal limit. It was likely higher when Althouse encountered him.

Fedden had two passengers in the car, but when Althouse completed a police report about the crash, they got no mention. He told the passengers to leave the scene, never questioning them. He never notified the dispatcher that he was transporting a civilian. And Fedden was never screened for intoxication.

Special treatment given by and to police corrodes public confidence, creates a privileged class to whom laws do not apply, and places officers above the codes they’re sworn to uphold. Just as importantly, it makes for bad policing. This time, that bad policing killed Peter Fedden.

Laws must be enforced equally. Police officers who fail this test must be disciplined or dismissed. That's how you protect society from dangerous individuals, and it's how you protect dangerous individuals from themselves.