Three car accidents for Morris sheriff in 15 months

Morris County Sheriff Edward V. Rochford has had three minor accidents in county-owned vehicles in the past 15 months, with no injuries reported but at least $2,192 in damage, according to county records obtained through an Open Public Records Act request.

The Morris County Insurance Fund's commissioners at their meeting on Monday will take up the issue, which Rochford, 71, said he believes is part of a developing pattern of harassment against him by county officials. Rochford, the sheriff since 1993, said he had no idea he would be the topic of discussion, but  the county "can do what it wants."

"This is bordering on harassment. There are statutes against this. The county ran a class on harassment and what they described in the class as harassment is what the freeholders are doing to me now," Rochford said.

Rochford has clashed multiple times in the past year with the county freeholders, who took control of the jail away from him as of Sept. 1 after he negotiated, on his own, separate labor contracts for officers and civilians at the jail and for officers in the Bureau of Law Enforcement, which primarily oversees security at the county courthouse. The county has refused to sign off on the labor contracts, so they have not been implemented.

Rochford also allegedly has refused to adequately explain overtime costs incurred by staff at the jail before the takeover.

Regarding the accidents, Rochford contends he was not at fault in two of them.

County Assistant Administrator Cathy Burd said the commission's procedure is to evaluate county employees and officials who are issued county vehicles and have at least three, preventable accidents in a two-year period.  The commissioners have the authority to order an employee to take a defensive driver safety course and, in extreme cases, where damage costs are high, revoke the employee's privilege of using a county vehicle, Burd said.

The Insurance Fund commissioners include Burd, county Administrator John Bonanni, county Treasurer Joseph Kovalcik Jr., and Freeholders David Scapicchio and Thomas Mastrangelo.

Scapicchio said the oversight has nothing to do with "harassment" of the sheriff, who he said is being treated the same as any other county worker.  Scapicchio said Rochford has been acting "strange" in the past two years, and he is concerned about his behavior.

The "strange" behavior, Scapicchio said, includes lack of cooperation with the freeholders and unsuccessful lawsuits the sheriff filed against the county when the freeholders refused to let him give bonuses of $2,500 and later $2,250 to officers.

"We feel terrible for Ed; he's been acting strange the past two years. It's a shame, he's had a good career until now," Scapicchio said.

Besides saying the county is harassing him, Rochford said he believes animosity against him has increased because he backed the GOP team of Freeholder John Cesaro and running mates Christine Myers and Angelo Tedesco in the June primary, instead of supporting Scapicchio and Freeholder John Krickus, who lost the June GOP primary.

"This is pure politics for me supporting the Cesaro team.  We'll deal with this in June next year. Two are gone, three to go," Rochford said, referring to the Scapicchio and Krickus primary loss this year and the June 2016 GOP primary if incumbent Freeholders Kathy DeFillippo, Douglas Cabana and Thomas Mastrangelo choose to run again.

Rochford's most recent accident occurred at 7:38 a.m. Sept. 25 in the parking lot of the Quick Chek on West Hanover Avenue in Morris Plains. The police report states that a Coca Cola delivery person was unloading merchandise to bring into the store when Rochford, driving a 2013 Ford Explorer, began backing out of his parking space.

Rochford told police that the Coca Cola driver dropped the rear liftgate of his truck as Rochford backed up, causing him to hit   it.  The Coca Cola driver told police the gate already was out when Rochford hit  it, the report said. The  liftgate is the portion of the truck used to lower deliveries to the ground.

The cost of repairing the  liftgate and the bumper and quarter panel of the county SUV has been estimated at $1,326, county records show.

An earlier minor accident occurred at 10:50 p.m. June 9 of this year when Rochford was parking a 2015 Ford SUV in the parking garage of the complex where he resides. He stated in a written narrative for the county that he pulled into a parking space  and "misjudged distance to concrete supporting post.  Scraped right-front fender and rubber molding."

Rochford took full for the incident in the narrative he gave the county, writing "Be more attentive to distance" as a way of preventing such an incident. The repair cost was $866, according to county records.

Last year, Rochford had a minor accident at 1 p.m.  June 26  in Randolph while leaving the home of Chief of Staff Susan Hunter. He was driving a 2013 four-door Ford Taurus. As Rochford was backing out of the driveway , he collided with a car driven by a pizza deliveryman who had entered the driveway.

The police report states that the deliveryman saw a vehicle backing out of the driveway, stopped his car and blew his horn about two seconds prior to the collision. Rochford told police that he heard a vehicle horn blow just prior to the collision but never saw the delivery car while backing up his vehicle.  The county vehicle had no repairable damage, with scuffs buffed out at no cost, county records said.

   Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com.   

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