Friday, December 26, 2014

Follow us:


Saratoga County

Albany police officer arrested for DWI

  • Text size: + -
Albany/HV: Albany police officer arrested for DWI
Play now

Time Warner Cable video customers:
Sign in with your TWC ID to access our video clips.

out of 10

Free Video Views Remaining



  To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

An Albany police officer is on the other side of the law. A ten year veteran of the department is facing DWI charges after he allegedly crashed into multiple cars. He's expected to be arraigned this week on the charges. Our Maria Valvanis spoke with residents who said they are surprised.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Neighbors said they were shocked to learn the man who allegedly broke the law by drinking and driving and then crashing into multiple cars, was a law enforcement officer himself.

"It's a little scary, you hear all the time about drunk drivers and the reality is it could be anyone and it's really unfortunate that in this instance it was a police officer," said Michelle Hahne.

Hahne was shocked to be woken up Sunday morning to a knock at her door saying someone had hit her car. She was even more shocked to find out, the man who allegedly did it, is an Albany police officer.

"There were three cars involved the one behind me was actually my mom's, my car needs to be fixed, and the car in front of me just has a little ding," said Hahne.

A 911 caller alerted police a man in a dark SUV had crashed into the cars parked on South Main, and possibly fled the scene. Soon after, police located a similar looking vehicle with front end damage near by. The officer behind the wheel, Max Etienne, was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated, and refusing a breath test.

Curtis Lamountin said, "It's crazy. He's supposed to stop people from doing this and he's doing it himself."

"With incidents like this you would think it's random kids or college kids or whoever, anyone but police people," said Diamonds Zagadou.

Etienne, a ten year veteran in the department has been suspended without pay. Neighbors said they're thankful no one got hurt, and they're hopeful justice will be served.

Hahne said, "He shouldn't be doing this, he's a person in charge of the area and he needs to be punished accordingly."

Police were not available for comment Sunday. They said in a statement off camera an internal investigation is being conducted. Etienne is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning. ClientIP:, UserAgent: CCBot/2.0 ( Profile: TWCSAMLSP