Hudson Valley Officer Arrested for 2nd DWI Just Over a Month

A local officer is accused of driving drunk for the second time in just over a month. The officer allegedly nearly hit a young student.

On Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., deputies from the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call for an erratic vehicle. Deputies then allegedly noticed the car fail to maintain its lane and pull into the Rondout Middle School parking lot in the Town of Rochester.

A further investigation revealed that the driver, Eric V. Decker of Kerhonkson, an off-duty Ulster County Corrections Officer, placed a student who was walking in the parking lot at risk while he was operating his vehicle in an intoxicated condition, police say.

Decker was arrested in August for DWI and has been serving a suspension from his correction officer job for that arrest.

Decker was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving with a blood alcohol content in excess of .18 %, reckless endangerment, all misdemeanors, as well as open container of an alcoholic beverage in motor vehicle and failing to maintain lane, both traffic violations.

Decker was arraigned in the Town of Marbletown Court and remanded to the Ulster County Jail on $50,000 cash bail to return at a later date.

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