Police chief who drunkenly interfered with traffic investigation has history of misconduct

A New Jersey police chief who was caught on video showing up drunk at a traffic investigation only to be thrown on the hood of a car by one of his own officers has a lengthy history of racial profiling, drunken violence while on duty, and other forms of misconduct, prosecutors say.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office found numerous allegations against Bradley Beach Police Chief Leonard Guida, including one in which he spat on a man at police headquarters during an argument over politics, the New York Post reported. According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago, investigating all the allegations against Guida would be an almost impossible task since there are so many.

“The findings outlined in this report illustrate unmistakably that over the previous year and a half, Chief Guida has been an active hindrance to the very law enforcement agency he was entrusted to lead,” Santiago said in a statement.

“The picture the report paints is not pretty — but that is precisely why we felt that it was so vitally important to publicly release it,” he added. “Transparency is rendered meaningless if ugliness is kept opaque.”

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Guida resigned from his position on Friday after body cam footage of the incident was released, showing him interfering with a DUI investigation while drunk. Sgt. William Major grew frustrated after Guida put his hands on him, prompting the officer to throw Guida onto the hood of a police car.

Another incident cited by prosecutors took place on Sept. 18, 2022, when Guida screamed at a cop who was helping set up a town's Latin Festival because he smiled at a woman and told her to have a good day.

“Guida proceeded to berate him for approximately 15 minutes, telling him, ‘I’ll never promote you,’ that he was the ‘worst officer we have,’ and that he ‘never should have been hired,’” prosecutors wrote in their report.

When the cop complained about the incident and pointed out to Guida that he had yelled at him in front of his children, Guida replied, “Maybe your kids need to see their dad get yelled at."

In another incident cited by prosecutors, Guida violated the civil rights of a Black man by detaining him solely because he was walking near a tire shop.

“When interviewed, [the man] stated that he walked that route every day, that Bradley Beach police vehicles routinely drive past him, and that this was the first time he was stopped,” Santiago wrote. “He believed he was stopped by Chief Guida due to his race.”

Read the full report over at the New York Post.