An off-duty Atlantic City police sergeant blamed prior injuries and cold for his failure to pass a field sobriety test after a crash last month.
A breath test found Michael Camp, 44, was more than 1½ times the legal limit, according to police records.
Body camera footage obtained by BreakingAC gives some insight into the Feb. 9 arrest, and shows Camp struggle through the test at times.
“I’m bad,” the 20-year police veteran says at one point. “You’re gonna lock me up. I know this.”
But defense attorney Brenden Shur said there did not seem to be anything earth-shattering in the video.
“I’m not seeing someone who looks to me to be impaired,” Shur said.
Instead, he said it seems there may be effects from the air bag deploying, and Camp possibly being struck by it or the windshield.
“That’s what a car accident looks like,” Shur said.
The other driver, Sean Devitt, tells Officer Mario Fuscia that he was on Atlantic Avenue at the red light on Jackson when he was rear-ended by Camp.
Devitt said he “looked down for a second, looked up (and) it was like a movie… Just saw a car flying at me and got crushed and hit me into the intersection.”
The impact sent Devitt’s car to the Atlantic City side of Jackson Avenue, so police from there responded first.
At 10:10 a.m., Atlantic City called Ventnor dispatch to tell them the crash happened on their side of the street.
As K-9 Officer Marc Franco pulls up, Camp is seen with Atlantic City Officers Eric Wessler and Christopher Inman. Since body cameras don’t record audio until seconds after they are activated, there is not sound at first.
“You’re still not driving the car,” Camp is told.
As he begins to speak again, Wessler tells him to stop, and then takes him aside.
Camp yells over to Franco, “you’re not towing it. Get your sergeant…”
“The lieutenant’s right over there,” Franco interrupts.
Wessler then grabs Camp by the back of his collar and leads him away.
He at one point gets into the passenger side of another car parked with a woman in the driver’s seat, and gets out saying he called a private tow company.
But the car was towed by Ventnor, police said.
Camp later tells Officer Mario Fuscia that he was arguing with the woman — whose face is pixelated out in the released video — when the crash happened. But it’s unclear how that was a factor with the two in separate cars.
Earlier, as Camp can be heard talking loudly, the woman asks Lt. Louis Kabo, “He going with you guys?”
“He may be,” Kabo responds. “He’s an off-duty A.C. cop, but he may be overstepping the line at this point.”
On the video, both Franco and Fuscia indicate they have conflicts with administering the test to Camp.
Due to the “sensitive nature,” Kabo has Sgt. Bryan Gaviria give Camp the test.
Camp mentions several times how he has a back injury that has him on light duty at his job as an officer, and says it could affect the test.
When asked if he's on any medication, he says that he has not been prescribed anything.
As Gaviria illustrates how he needs Camp to stand with one foot six inches off the ground, Camp responds: “I’ve never been able to do this, even sober. I’ll never be able to do this, especially with this injury.”
As the test ends, Camp indicates he may want to go to the hospital.
Gaviria relays this to the lieutenant, who says to give him the option to either come back to the station and take a breath test, or go to the hospital where they will get a warrant for blood and urine.Camp says he’ll go with them, asking if he can call his lawyer first.
Kabo tells him he can call him at the station, and Camp is then cuffed.
He was later released to a friend.
Attorney Shur said there is still evidence to go through, and that the breath test “reading is only as good as the machine.”
Shur would not comment on Camp's employment status. Atlantic City police did not respond to requests about whether he was suspended.
Camp’s case will continue through Ventnor Municipal Court.
