Jewish Cop Transferred After Busting Prosecutor for DWI

Assistant DA Jennifer Troiano was busted for DWI on the Major Deegan Expressway




















cop who refused to cut a troubled Bronx prosecutor a break told NYPD investigators he was unfairly punished after busting her for DWI, police sources said.

Officer Elliot Zinstein arrested Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Troiano on the Major Deegan Expressway on Aug. 26, after she got into a three-car wreck. Reeking of booze and wandering into traffic, Troiano "was stumbling and falling down and unable to keep her balance," court records show.

Troiano tried to wriggle out of trouble, telling Zinstein he should call Nestor Ferreiro, chief of narcotics in the Bronx district attorney's office.

"He'll take care of this," sources quoted her as saying. "He took care of it the last time."

Zinstein made the arrest, and Troiano was charged with DWI and reckless driving. She refused to take a Breathalyzer test, prompting the suspension of her license.

At the time of the arrest, Zinstein was assigned to Operation Impact in the 44th Precinct in the Bronx. In January, sources said, Zinstein and about 40 other Impact cops were transferred - but Zinstein was the only one bounced from the Bronx.

On the force three years, he was moved to the 94th Precinct in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Zinstein, an Orthodox Jew, was told that the neighborhood needed more Jewish cops.

He didn't buy that explanation because the Jewish population is much higher in the neighboring 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, sources said.

"He was doing his job," a colleague said, referring to the August arrest. "He's a good cop. He's made a lot of arrests and has no disciplinary record."

Zinstein, 27, was questioned by the Internal Affairs Bureau last month. He was grilled by investigators, and he told them he was unfairly transferred for arresting Troiano. The officer and his lawyer declined to comment. The NYPD wouldn't respond to Zinstein's allegations.

Zinstein was later told in a visit from a Personnel Bureau lieutenant "that the department wanted to do right by him," sources said.

"He was told to figure out where he wants to work," one source said. "The lieutenant said he would make it happen for him."

Zinstein has yet to act on that offer.

Troiano skirted arrest at least twice before running into Zinstein. In 2005, she was in a car that was involved in a wreck upstate, sources said. She left the scene and was never charged.

In 2009, she attended an office Christmas party and was later stopped by police in the Bronx, sources said. Troiano, who police suspect was driving drunk, was handcuffed and taken to the 44th Precinct stationhouse, where she identified herself as a prosecutor and got the arrest voided.

Troiano, recently transferred to the Appeals Bureau, was never part of the ongoing ticket-fixing probe led by the Bronx district attorney's office.

Still, when her arrest was first revealed in April it proved a huge embarrassment for District Attorney Robert Johnson. His office is trying to prove that up to 40 cops should be indicted. An additional 100 cops could face NYPD disciplinary charges.