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Danny Breslin (FAMILY PHOTO)
Prosecutors said they have video evidence — one showing a vehicle driven by Michael Ettz ramming Breslin’s cruiser, and the other Ettz drinking at a bar before the April crash.
They were still mulling whether to call an alcohol-influence expert who would testify to how much Ettz was influenced when he plowed his car into the rear of the officer’s SUV as he stopped to help a colleague, Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Martin Delaney said during a brief hearing in Hackensack this afternoon.
Ettz didn’t speak during the proceeding, which took less than five minutes. Nor did defense attorney Perry Primavera, a last-minute stand-in for Brian Neary, who had court in another county.
A grand jury in Hackensack indicted Ettz in August on charges of aggravated assault, DWI assault by auto and leaving the scene of a crash with serious injuries.
Bergen County Police Chief Brian Higgins told CLIFFVIEW PILOT last month that Breslin was “doing his rehabilitation five days a week, but it’s still a very tough road.
“He had a life-changing incident that night, and it’s affected everyone.”
Retired BCPD Capt. Victor Cuttitta, Police Chief Brian Higgins (STORY / FILE PHOTO: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia)
Breslin, a married 39-year-old father of two, returned to his Fairfield home in August after spending several months in a hospital and rehab facility, Higgins said.
He has been tackling outpatient rehabilitation — including physical and speech therapy — with great determination, a testament to his courage and personality, the chief said.
A recent fundraiser took in $100,000, which Higgins said reflected the love and respect that citizens have not only for Breslin but for all law enforcement and the selfless work that police do.
“As great as that was, it’s a drop in the bucket against what he and his family needs for the rest of his life,” the chief said. “That’s why that fundraiser was just the start.
“We will never, ever, ever stop.”
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CLICK HERE: Support the Breslin family (YouCaring.com
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Ettz, 36, remained free on $150,000 bail, which he posted after being released from the hospital following the April 19 crash.
If convicted of the charges at a trial, he would face up to 15 years in state prison, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.
Breslin had stopped his SUV in the right lane of Route 46 to block traffic from hitting a county police car stopped on the right shoulder, Molinelli said at the time.
The other officer was having radio problems, the prosecutor explained. Ettz’s four-door 2012 Ford Fusion slammed into Breslin’s SUV, trapping the officer, who had to be extricated, the prosecutor said.
Ettz then tried to make a run for it after being pulled from his car but was caught by a Lodi police sergeant, he said.
Breslin sustained a “significant head injury” and was brought to surgery with a skull fracture and bleeding after a CAT scan was done following the 1:50 a.m. crash, Molinelli said.
He also sustained several broken ribs and a collapsed lung.
Records show Ettz had his license suspended for 240 days for a DWI conviction out of Clifton.
STORY/PHOTOS: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia
(No part of this account, including the images, may be reproduced commercially without the permission of CLIFFVIEWPILOT.COM. Social media exempted.)
PHOTO (above): CLIFFVIEW PILOT Correspondent Kevin Teel
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