New York City Police Department (NYPD) Deputy Inspector and former commanding officer of the Fifth Precinct in Manhattan’s Chinatown, Paul Zangrilli, was indicted in court by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on June 13 for allegedly covering up a drunk driving incident involving him and his girlfriend two years ago.
According to prosecutors, when Zangrilli’s girlfriend hit a taxi driver while drunk driving and fled the scene, Zangrilli was reportedly sitting in the passenger seat. After the incident, Zangrilli not only lied to the police department but also asked the bar to delete surveillance footage of the two of them getting drunk together.
On August 16, 2022, at around 5:40 pm, Zangrilli, who was then the commanding officer of the Fifth Precinct of the NYPD, and his girlfriend Nikole Rupple, drove to the “American Whiskey” bar near the Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. Within about three hours, Zangrilli had consumed 5 glasses of liquor and 7 bottles of beer, while Rupple had 7 glasses of liquor and 3 bottles of beer. The pair left the bar together around 8:40 pm that evening.
Rupple, who was drunk, was driving an unmarked official NYPD vehicle on 10th Avenue, with Zangrilli still in his police uniform sitting in the passenger seat.
Within minutes, Rupple rear-ended a taxi at the intersection of West 30th Street and 10th Avenue, causing injuries to the taxi driver’s back and neck, as well as damage to the vehicle. Rupple not only sped away from the scene but also switched seats with Zangrilli, who then drove the vehicle involved in the crash to flee.
The injured taxi driver pursued the vehicle and eventually caught up with Zangrilli’s car at a red light three blocks away. However, when the light turned green, Zangrilli drove off again until stopped by uniformed police officers.
After the incident, Zangrilli falsely claimed to the on-duty police that he was driving to work and quickly pulled over when the accident occurred, without mentioning that his girlfriend was in the car and both were drunk driving. The police subsequently filed a report based on the inaccurate information provided by Zangrilli. Later, Zangrilli and Rupple drove back to the Fifth Precinct, and Zangrilli called the bar owner to request the deletion of surveillance footage capturing them getting drunk.
Once the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) learned about the situation, they visited Zangrilli’s residence before midnight. However, Zangrilli was not found at home as stated in the report but was discovered at his girlfriend’s apartment. Subsequently, the IAB searched the bar’s surveillance system and, together with prosecutors, recovered and extracted the surveillance footage of Zangrilli and Rupple’s drunk driving incident.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg stated in a release that Zangrilli and Rupple’s actions were “extremely dangerous,” causing injuries to the taxi driver and putting other drivers and pedestrians at risk.
Zangrilli faces charges including evidence tampering, falsifying business records, providing false filing documents, obstructing government administration, misconduct by a public servant, driving while intoxicated, drunk driving, and 10 other criminal charges, while Rupple is charged with drunk driving and leaving the scene of an accident.