{"id":2700,"date":"2024-10-07T22:38:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T22:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/?p=2700"},"modified":"2024-10-16T14:25:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T14:25:37","slug":"massachusetts-sheriff-drove-cop-car-to-mgm-springfield-drunk-missing-tire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/2024\/10\/07\/massachusetts-sheriff-drove-cop-car-to-mgm-springfield-drunk-missing-tire\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Sheriff Drove Cop Car to MGM Springfield Drunk, Missing Tire"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Hampden County, Mass. sheriff arrested at the MGM Springfield<\/a> last month drove to the casino drunk in a police SUV with a missing tire, The Boston Globe<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Hampden
Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, above, had slurred speech and his eyes were \u201cbloodshot and glassy\u201d when he was quizzed by state police, according to his arrest report. (MassLive)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sheriff Nick Cocchi<\/a>, 51, left his Ford Explorer with blue police license plates running in the valet area as he hit the casino on September 21. When he returned 40 minutes later, he found his counterparts in the state police waiting for him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Couple of Beers\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cocchi at first claimed that someone else who was still in the casino had been driving the vehicle, but changed his story after he was reminded the area was surrounded by surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019d been playing golf at Springfield Country Club where he\u2019d had \u201ca couple of beers.\u201d But his speech was slurred and his \u201ceyes were bloodshot and glassy,\u201d according to the arrest report made public last week.<\/p>\n

Cocchi refused to perform field sobriety tests or submit to a breathalyzer, which led to an automatic license suspension, according to court filings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Police later viewed security video from the casino that showed Cocchi arriving at 6:44 p.m. as patrons stopped and stared at his vehicle. He stumbled several times as he walked inside.<\/p>\n

The SUV was missing its right front tire, and the wheel rim had extensive damage and was covered in \u201cplant matter,\u201d according to the arrest report. Cocchi had left the engine on, and the vehicle unlocked. Inside was a set of golf clubs, money, a wallet containing his police ID, and other property from the sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Suspended Sentence<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On September 23, at Springfield District Court, Cocchi admitted driving under the influence of alcohol and was placed on probation for a year. He was fined $600, and his license was suspended for 45 days. He was ordered to complete an alcohol driver education course.<\/p>\n

He was also suspended from work without pay for three days, which covered the cost of damage to the SUV, according to a spokesperson from the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\n

I take full responsibility for what happened this past Saturday,\u201d he said in a statement after his plea. \u201c[Many people] point fingers in today\u2019s political climate, but I wasn\u2019t raised that way. In both my personal and professional life, I stand by my actions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But in court, while Assistant Attorney General Mary Sandstrom acknowledged the defendant had done good for the community during his career, she reminded the judge he had been brash and defiant before his arrest, and had behaved like an entitled public official.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe abused his position,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The post Massachusetts Sheriff Drove Cop Car to MGM Springfield Drunk, Missing Tire<\/a> appeared first on Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Hampden County, Mass. sheriff arrested at the MGM Springfield last month drove to the casino drunk in a police SUV with a missing tire, The Boston Globe reports. Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi, above, had slurred speech and his eyes were \u201cbloodshot and glassy\u201d when he was quizzed by state police, according to his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2700"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2701,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions\/2701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stakery.io\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}