Early yesterday morning, off-duty police officer Raphael Ospina was charged with driving while intoxicated and vehicular assault after crashing his car into a private sanitation truck and then into Tiffany's on West 57th and Fifth Avenue. When asked whether Ospina had driven drunk before, his 19-year-old brother helpfully said, "I'm sure he has. He must have. I don't know for a fact." With a brother like this, who needs a keeper?
The impact of the crash left Ospina's Chrysler 300 a wreck; he and his two passengers had to be cut out of the car before being taken to Bellevue for treatment. According to the Post, "Ospina, who joined the force in 2004, was so out of it that he told detectives that the year was 2009 and George W. Bush was still president, sources said."
The cop's brother Daniel added, "Yeah, he likes to live life. He's the type of guy everyone likes to be around. He likes to get people in a great mood," and "I have to stick up for him, he's my brother. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect." Ospina was suspended without pay for 30 days.
