Bodycam footage from a DUI hit-and-run arrest shows a federal narcotics prosecutor handing police their business cards.
Federal Narcotics Prosecutor’s Shocking DUI Hit-and-Run Incident Caught on Bodycam Footage.
When Florida police responded to a hit-and-run incident at Joseph Ruddy’s residence, they encountered a surprising scene. Ruddy, a prominent federal narcotics prosecutor, appeared visibly intoxicated, struggling to maintain his balance as he leaned on the back of his pickup truck. What made this encounter even more unusual was that he was holding his U.S. Justice Department business card.
One of the officers couldn’t help but question his actions. “What are you trying to hand me?” he asked. “You realize when they pull my body-worn camera footage and they see this, this is going to go really bad.”
The obtained footage, revealed by The Associated Press, painted a picture of Ruddy attempting to use his official position to mitigate the consequences of a Fourth of July collision where he allegedly struck another vehicle while intoxicated and fled the scene.
In a surprising turn of events, Ruddy, aged 59, continued working for two months after being charged, even representing the United States in court just last week. However, following inquiries by the AP, the Justice Department acted swiftly. On the day after the AP raised questions about Ruddy’s status, the veteran prosecutor was removed from three pending criminal cases. While the Justice Department didn’t explicitly state whether he had been suspended, they did confirm that Ruddy had been relieved of his supervisory role at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tampa. The case has also been referred to the Office of Inspector General.
Legal ethics professor Kathleen Clark from Washington University in St. Louis reviewed the footage and opined that an inspector general’s investigation would likely focus on whether Ruddy had attempted to exploit his public office for personal gain. Clark remarked, “It’s hard to see what this could be other than an attempt to improperly influence the police officer to go easy on him. What could possibly be his purpose in handing over his U.S. Attorney’s Office business card?”
Ruddy faced charges of driving under the influence with property damage, classified as a first-degree misdemeanor with a potential sentence of up to a year in prison. Surprisingly, despite acknowledging his inebriation and witness testimony, he was not charged with leaving the scene of the accident.
Efforts to reach Ruddy or his attorney for comment have been unsuccessful.
Joseph Ruddy has long been recognized in law enforcement circles as one of the masterminds behind Operation Panama Express, or PANEX, a task force established in 2000 to combat cocaine smuggling at sea. PANEX involved collaboration between various agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Historically, PANEX-generated intelligence contributed to over 90% of U.S. Coast Guard drug interdictions at sea. Between 2018 and 2022, the Coast Guard successfully removed or destroyed 888 metric tons of cocaine, with an estimated value of $26 billion, and detained 2,776 suspected smugglers. Most of these cases were managed by Ruddy and his team in Tampa, where PANEX is headquartered.
Ruddy’s reputation in legal circles is that of a dedicated and tough courtroom prosecutor. He has been involved in major cases, including the extradition of top smugglers from Colombia associated with the notorious Cali cartel. However, the majority of cases handled by his office deal with impoverished fishermen from Central and South America, often not even bound for U.S. shores, where the usual constitutional protections are loosely applied.
Kendra McSweeney, a geographer from Ohio State University, highlighted Ruddy’s role in a rigorous prosecutor-led effort that annually arrests hundreds of low-level cocaine traffickers at sea and incarcerates them in the U.S. Her research found that between 2014 and 2020, the median sentence for smugglers intercepted at sea and prosecuted in Tampa was ten years, longer than any other court in the country. This compares to seven years and six months in Miami, which handles the second-largest number of such cases.
As of last Friday, nearly two months after his arrest, Ruddy was in court to finalize a plea deal in the case of Flavio Fontes Pereira, a Brazilian man found with over 3.3 tons of cocaine aboard a sailboat off Guinea, West Africa, by the U.S. Coast Guard in February. Pereira was charged under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act, which grants the U.S. unique arrest powers on the high seas when a vessel is deemed “without nationality.”
Ruddy is scheduled to appear in court for his own case on September 27. He stands accused of sideswiping an SUV whose driver had been waiting to turn at a red light. Witnesses reported that Ruddy didn’t apply his brakes and continued swerving down the road. He was eventually tracked down, thanks to a vigilant witness who reported the incident to the police. When officers arrived at his home, they found Ruddy in a disheveled state, leaning on his pickup for support, and failing a field sobriety test.
“I understand we might be having a better night,” Tampa police patrolman Taylor Grant remarked before examining Ruddy’s business card.
“Why didn’t you stop?” the officer questioned.
“I didn’t realize it was that serious,” Ruddy slurred in response.
“You hit a vehicle and you ran,” the officer said. “You ran because you’re drunk. You probably didn’t realize you hit the vehicle.”
By: M Z Hossain, Editor Sky Buzz Feed
