An off-duty cop busted for a Manhattan drunken-driving crash that ended up with one of his dogs dead and another injured has been docked 35 days pay and placed on dismissal probation, according to an NYPD document.
Officer Shreeganesh Meade at his One Police Plaza departmental trial admitted he had three rum drinks with his grandmother’s home health care aide before getting behind the wheel of his Toyota 4Runner and — while texting on his cell phone — crashing into the median as he drove north on the West Side Highway near W. 48th St. more than eight years ago.
He said the next thing he remembered was waking up in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury and no immediate recollection of what happened, according to the document, a summary of his departmental trial.
But NYPD investigators showed Meade surveillance video, on which he was seen getting out of his vehicle and taking off on foot, but not before opening a back door, out of which his two German Shepherds escaped, according to the summary.
The dogs circled the Toyota than scampered north, each of them struck by a different vehicle a short time later, the summary said.
One pooch was hurt. The other was killed.
The crash happened around 4 a.m. Nov. 19, 2017, but Meade, whose blood alcohol content measured 0.13, wasn’t charged for another 15 months.
At the time, the Daily News reported that Meade, after fleeing the scene, had a friend pick him up near Chelsea Piers.
The friend — who later told police Meade’s face was bleeding and that he stunk of booze and was slurring his speech — took Meade home, where the cop changed his clothes, then drove him to St. John’s Hospital in Far Rockaway.
Meade, who joined the NYPD in July 2010, later plead guilty to operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol, an infraction.
The departmental trial, delayed in part due to the COVID pandemic, took place last October. His punishment was meted out in December, with the summary posted on the NYPD website last week.
When Meade testified at his department trial he said he had turned his life around.
He said hadn’t had a drink in about a year, that he had served in the National Guard between 2018 and 2025 and that he had obtained his EMT license, according to the summary.
And he asked NYPD trial Judge Jeff Adler to consider his past problems.
Meade was just 6 when his father died, he testified. Four years later, his mother killed herself.
And at the time of the crash he said he was caring for his grandmother, who was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and that his grandfather was in a nursing home with dementia.
“It was not an easy time,” he testified, noting however that he did not drink while on duty.
Adler in his recommendation considered Adler’s testimony — plus the seven letters from fellow cops, relatives and friends “attesting to his good character.”
“Nevertheless, the events…are deeply troubling, and there must be appropriate accountability,” Adler wrote. “Members of the service are required to maintain the standards established by the department for their conduct, including when they are off duty… It is quite fortunate that no one else was injured as a result of [his] dangerous behavior that night.”
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch agreed with the recommendation but did not elaborate, according to the summary.
Meade, assigned to the Midtown North Precinct, did not respond to a request for comment.
But his lawyer, Edward Paltzik, said Meade is a community-minded officer whose other roles, in the National Guard and as an EMT, show “he cares about helping people.”
“He’ll have a very good back half of his career once this is behind him,” Paltzik said. “He’s very altruistic.”
