CORTLAND -- Cortland city police officer Patrick O'Donnell, 28, is charged with D-W-I and driving with a blood alcohol content over .08 after a crash Sunday evening. Investigators say he was also issued traffic tickets for speeding, failure to stop at a stop sign, and driving an unregistered motor vehicle. The police department would not tell WXHC radio if he has been suspended or if he faces any sanctions as a result of his arrest.
The radio station reports O'Donnell's car hit an unoccupied vehicle, and also a wooden stockade fence, bushes and shrubbery; the car came to rest against an enclosed porch at 72 West Main Street.
In 2007, a former Cortland police officer was sentenced to six months in jail and probation for driving drunk and hitting and injuring two women, one of whom died two weeks later of her injuries. Click here to read more about that case.
