Emergency workers hustle Shaun Foley to an ambulance moments after rescuing him from the Navesink River on November 22.
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Fair Haven’s former fire chief pleaded guilty to drunken driving Monday, putting an end to legal troubles caused by a November accident that quickly turned into a search-and-rescue effort when he fled the scene and jumped off the Oceanic Bridge.
Shaun Foley, 27, entered the plea in Rumson Municipal Court before Long Branch Municipal Judge George Cieri. Three other charges — reckless driving, failure to report and leaving the scene of an accident — were thrown out as part of the plea deal. Foley, who was also a Rumson Police dispatcher and part-time police officer, was ordered to pay about $675 in fines, undergo a state-mandated evaluation and lost his license for seven months.
“I just want to apologize to everybody,” he said in court. “I embarrassed myself, definitely, but both organizations and my family.”
He added that he was thankful that even though his crash caused a second accident on River Road, nobody was injured as a result of what he said was “just a pile of bad decisions.”
With his father in attendance, Foley, in a black suit, said little about what happened on November 22, the night of the accident. He told the court he drank four or five bottles of beer, though he didn’t know the exact amount, at Murray MacGregor’s Publik House on River Road before leaving in his chief’s vehicle to go home.
His blood alcohol content was later measured at .14 percent, according to records, nearly double the state limit of .08.
According to police, Foley crashed into a utility pole near Borough Hall before fleeing on foot about a mile west to Oceanic Bridge, where he jumped and set off a huge rescue effort involving more than a different agencies and three helicopters. Meanwhile, a second vehicle, driven by an Ocean Township man, had crashed into the pole brought down by Foley. No injuries were reported.
Afterward, Foley resigned as Fire Haven fire chief and quit his job as dispatcher and special officer in Rumson.
Foley’s attorney, Mitchell Ansell, said that night changed Foley’s life for the better. In early December, Foley voluntarily checked into an “intensive, one-on-one” outpatient clinic in Ocean, Ansell said, and continues to go there. Ansell said Foley has a problem with alcohol and intends to continue seeking treatment.
“He clearly understands this is the way he has to live his life now,” Ansell said. “His life changed and I think it changed for the better.”
The DWI charge was not Foley’s first. According to Rumson Alternate Prosecutor James Ronan, Foley lost his license for 30 days in 2002, when he was 19 year old, following an alcohol-related incident while driving in Little Silver. Ronan referred to the offense as a “baby DWI,” which he said gives the state a way to punish those who drink and drive underage but who don’t meet the threshold for an intoxication charge. If they are over the limit, they are prosecuted as if it were a regular DWI. Even the smallest trace of alcohol is punishable under the statute, Ronan said.
Because he was below the legal limit in the 2002 incident, Foley’s formal record will reflect Monday’s outcome as his first DWI offense, Ronan said.
As deputy chief in 2008, Foley was involved in another car accident, again in a borough-owned vehicle, but alcohol wasn’t a factor, according to police reports.
Ansell said Foley has been deeply embarrassed by the November incident and paid a heavy price. He’s considering joining the military now to turn his life around, Ansell said. Foley, who isn’t married and has no children, has already started paperwork with the U.S. Marines, Ansell said.
Throughout the hearing, Foley conducted himself in a formal manner. He stood up straight every time he spoke to the judge, looked him in the eye and ended his statements with “your honor.” After he handed his license over to the court, Foley left quickly to pay his fines and got in the car with his father and left.
To avoid conflicts of interest, court administrators brought in Cieri preside over the case and had Ronan replace Prosecutor Mike Halfacre, who is also the mayor of Fair Haven.
Good luck Shaun. Your friends wish you well. One Taliban for each Jerk on RBG.
Take advantage of the situation…follow through with your stated intentions and get your life back on track. Best of luck!!!
Hopefully, the little kids who usually hang out on RBG are in school today and out of their mommy’s basement and will curb their remarks…remember, no one is perfect.
While noble of him to admit that night was a ‘pile of bad decisions’ (interesting way to term it) and he plead guilty to DWI, he still got off easy. He not only left the scene of an accident, but created havoc with the search and rescue, etc.
Oh well, this has been beaten to death. Hopefully we will never see this guy’s name in the news ever again. Particularly if it’s anything related to DWI’s, accidents, etc. If there is a next time, it may not be so lucky.
Just curious. What was the cost in damages caused by Mr. Foley? Does anybody know? Is this passed along to the taxpayers? Is this incident covered by FH Municipality Insurance?
“Foley crashed into a utility pole near Borough Hall before fleeing on foot about a mile west to Oceanic Bridge, where he jumped and set off a huge rescue effort involving more than a different agencies and three helicopters. Meanwhile, a second vehicle, driven by an Ocean Township man, had crashed into the pole brought down by Foley.”
Three Helicopters…$$$
Who was Little Silver’s municipal prosecutor in 2002? Did that prosecutor recomment the “baby DWI”?
Ok, I will remember that no one is ‘perfect’. So if I go out, drive drunk, and not get so lucky as this guy did and only take down a pole and cause a nuisance, but instead kill an innocent person or family as he very easily could’ve done at 6pm on a Sun night….my explanation will be ‘no one is perfect.’ You got to be a real ahole to make a statement like that in light of what this guy did and could potentially have caused tragedy by his actions. But that’s the society we live in today. Not my fault, no one is perfect, someone else will clean up the mess.
Again, as I said, hopefully we never see this man’s name in the news again for something like this. Lets hope. But with the attitudes expressed by people writing in,seems even if he truly cleans his act up, it will just be someone else to take his spot.
next come the lawsuits as stated when the story aired and the lawsuits against the firehouse for allowing alcohol in an emergency/safety building. The list will go on and on and on.
Foley acted appropriately in court. I hope he learns from his mistake. I hope others learn from his mistake. If you have a problem with alcohol, Alcoholics Anonymous is a wonderful organization which helps persons gain sobriety.
I’m sure none of you have ever made bad decisions, get off your high horses. He said he’s got a problem and he’s remorseful and looking to rectify it. A 7 month license suspension is perfectly protocol for a first DWI, prosecutor’s always plea down the rest of the tickets unless it shows repeat offense. The Marines sounds like a good move right now, I hope he does well for himself.
Sure I’ve made bad decisions, but none that could have taken a life. When you start crossing into innocent lives being taken, that’s not just a ‘bad decision.’ That’s a BIG PROBLEM and is RECKLESS. Big difference there, and anyone who cannot discern that difference, is troubling to me. That’s my opinion for what it’s worth. Not a high horse of any sort, just good moral upbringing.
That said, like I said in my prior blog, hopefully we dont ever see his name in the news for this kind of reckless behavior again, he moves on with his life, end of story.
$675 and a 7 month driver’s license suspension for his 3rd DWI?
If it were me I’d be in jail.
FN was right about 7 months being about right for a first offense. Recently I had a friend who lost their license for six months and had to pay a fine.
But she did not cause two accidents but instead never made it from the parking lot. She did not register more than double the limit. She did not run away from the police (actually the officer noted to the judge that she was very cooperative). She did not damage public and private property. She did not have a “baby DWI” on her record. She did not trigger a massive and costly rescue effort.
Mr. Foley was lucky with the light sentence. I think every reasonable person can agree to this point. I would like to think that judge was sympathetic because of how much else Foley lost because of his actions. And I would like to think that the judge was sympathetic to Foley because Foley had served the community as a volunteer.
“Ditto” was dead in urging Foley to take advantage of the situation. Other judges might have really stuck it to him. It could have been worse. I think the judge did the right thing. I think the good things from Foley’s past are worth something in this process. I hope Foley rewards the judge by never ending up in this situation again.
Actually it was probably as much the prosecutor as the judge, but you get my point.
Not arguing with FN so much about the sentence. Flabergasted by FN writing this incident off as simply ‘he made a bad decision’. To me a bad decision would’ve been something like he had ’some’ to drink, and probably thought he was ok, but got pulled over and blew slightly over the legal limit. Got a DWI. That can happen, lets face it. Not to me, I dont drink at all when driving, but that’s me. I can understand if that happens to someone.
However, this was a little more than just that. He blew twice the legal limit, crashed a public vehicle, which damaged a pole which another driver hit, then eluded the police, and caused a massive search mission. That’s just a few too many things, one on top of the other, to call it just a bad decision, dont ya think? And only by the grace of God no one else got hurt or killed.
And that’s not even counting his supposed history of driving drunk, which really does not matter at this point whether true or not.
Point, no reasonable person would consider this just a bad decision.
As far as his sentence, maybe a bit light, but they probably also factored in his past public service and what he’s lost in addition to just his license. No issue with that.
What I want to see changed is this low key attitude of people thinking drinking and driving is just a mistake. It’s not. It’s preventable, and therefore no excuse for it.
I’m thinking the $675 was chicken feed; due to the monumental costs incurred for property damage and state and other agency personnel man-hours, the fine should have been SO much higher. With that said, perhaps Foley’s conviction will result in the minimum insurance surcharge of $1000 a year for three years.
Shaun you are cared for and loved by many. All the luck in the world be with you in your future. You are a wonderful person no matter what any of these people may say about what they’ve only read in a paper or online about you. Keep pushing forward in your life and you will succeed. <3
Every rescue,fire response,first aid response is the result of someones mistake. Shal we bill everybody for his or her mistake? When you eat and smoke to much and have a heart attack should we bill for the first aid? When you leave cooking on the stove unattended should we bill you for fire truck response? Lost child? poor boat maintenance? Careless driving? This is what Shaun did for other people free as do 99% of the people out there that night. They care for other people not trying to figure out what they should have to pay. He was a great fireman and a great dispatcher. We all lost that night. His service should not be forgotten. Ask any fireman from around Monmouth county who worked with him on a fire scene. AAA+++ in my book!
You people just simply don’t get it. Having a heart attack or leaving a pot on the stove is not malicious. As you note, it is a mistake. To drink and drive repeatedly, ending with an accident that could have very well killed an innocent person or persons, leave the scene, elude the cops by jumping into the water, risking their lives for your own selfish reasons.
Sorry, no matter how wonderful a guy this man may be, what he did still remains what it is. Reckless and a big problem.
I hope he is cured of his trouble.As for some of you supporters on this page, though, I would not be surprised to read about one of you next driving drunk and getting into trouble. Your cavalier attitudes toward this incident shows you have no clue as to the serious nature of getting behind the wheel drunk. Nor the courtesy to care of how it can impact innocent lives.
It sounds like some of Foley’s enablers are feeling a bit guilty themselves by the sound of these posts.
Best wishes Shaun - You’re saying police and emergency personnel work for free? Fire chief is not a paid position?
That’s funny, I thought one of the reasons property taxes are so f’ing high is because cops are making upwards of $50K (wasn’t it reported here that LS cop Solari was making $91K a year?). We are also funding their gold-plated pensions, are we not?
They certainly don’t “do it for free”. That’s laughable.
this is actually his *third* DWI, not his second. this is small town politics come to life. there is NO WAY he had only 4-5 beers. Give me a break! He was drinkin at Murray McGregors for hours with the chief of police and they all covered it up. this is a disgrace. if anyone of us did this, we’d be screwed. I really, truly hope he gets his head out of his rearend and gets his life in order. Also, hopefully this will be a wake up call for all of the local authorities that you can’t keep covering up these kinds of incidents - you’re lucky no one was killed.
Wow baby DUI, im sure if he had struck and killed someone with his baby dui theyd be singing a different tune. typical rumson-fair haven connections at their finest