NYC attorney busted following boozy Brooklyn hit-and-run
Police cuffed a city legal eagle following a boozy joy ride that saw him flee the scene of an accident and refuse a breathalyzer test in Brooklyn early Tuesday morning, cops said.
Attorney Philip Simonelli, 29, who works for the city’s Law Department as assistant corporation counsel, was slapped with six misdemeanor charges following his 2:20 a.m. arrest, according to police.
The charges include driving while ability impaired by alcohol, refusal to take a breath test, reckless driving, reckless endangerment, failure to obey traffic signals and leaving the scene of an incident without reporting, cops said.
A spokesman for the Police Department would not provide details on the arrest except to say that Simonelli was involved in a crash and got arrested sometime after he had fled the scene.
The bust was made in the 78th Precinct, which covers the neighborhoods of Gowanus, Park Slope and Prospect Park.
Simonelli began working with the city as a student legal specialist while pursuing a legal degree at CUNY School of Law in 2018, records show. The Law Department hired him as a salaried employee after he was admitted to the New York State Bar in 2020.
He pulls an annual salary of $75,277, according to city records.