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The car ended up three feet off the ground after it left the roadway and barreled onto a Douglas Street lawn, according to a police report.
Robert Waananen, 37, of Emerson, told them he lost control of the vehicle while texting, it says.
“Buddy” Waananen, who competes in national events, left court in Hackensack with a clean record in May after a judge sentenced him to probation — and then suspended it — for his cooperation in the investigation of a black market Oxycontin ring operated by Emerson podiatrist Carnig Shakarjian.
Shakarjian, of Park Ridge, was later sentenced to five years in state prison, had his license suspended for at least five years and was fined $10,000 for conspiring to sell the high-dose drug to black-market brokers.
A dozen or so co-defendants took pleas or entered pre-trial intervention programs. They included Sean Colina, the son of Emerson Mayor Carlos Colina.
Bergen prosecutors said they “would not have had a case” against any of them without Waananen’s help.
However, the judge warned Waananen that he’d be brought back to court if he got into any more trouble. Whether last night’s incident rises to that level was unclear this morning.
Waananen’s car smashed into the Douglas Street hedge row just before 7:45 p.m., a police report says. Responding officers reported finding him “dazed,” “flushed” and “sweating.”
Although he told him he’d been texting — and tried turning his head away as he spoke — they said they detected an odor of alcohol. Waananen later failed field and breath tests, they said.
Police charged him with criminal DWI, reckless driving, careless driving and driving with an expired license. He was released pending an Oct. 10 appearance in Municipal Court.
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