Elite prosecutor misused position by offering Justice Department card in DUI stop, watchdog finds
One of the nation’s most prolific federal narcotics prosecutors flouted ethics rules last year when he drunkenly handed his business card to Florida police investigating a hit-and-run crash, a Justice Department watchdog found.
The finding comes nearly a year after The Associated Press published body-camera footage following a Fourth of July crash in which Joseph Ruddy was accused of striking another vehicle, leaving the scene and improperly seeking to leverage his position as an assistant U.S. attorney in Tampa to blunt the fallout.
In the footage, a disoriented Ruddy could barely stand up straight, slurred his words and leaned on the tailgate of his pickup to keep his balance. But he was under control enough to hand over his Justice Department credentials to officers from two jurisdictions dispatched to investigate the crash.
“What are you trying to hand me?” a Tampa police officer asked. “You realize when they pull my body-worn camera footage and they see this, this is going to go really bad.”
