Strike Three Months

A conviction arising from a “road rage” incident merited a three-month suspension imposed by the New Jersey Supreme Court.

From the Disciplinary Review Board report

On April 7, 2011, while on Washington Avenue in Jersey City, he was involved in a “road rage” incident. Angered by the actions of another driver, respondent exited his vehicle, retrieved a baseball bat from the trunk, and struck the driver’s vehicle multiple times. Respondent’s strikes to the vehicle broke the windshield and a side mirror and caused the driver and a passenger in the vehicle to be placed in imminent fear of bodily injury. Respondent did not admit striking either of the victims with his fist, attempting to strike either of the victims with the baseball bat, or causing actual injury to either of the victims, as had been alleged in the criminal complaints that had been filed against him. Neither the State nor the court required respondent to address these allegations during his plea allocution.

The DRB summarizes the history of bar discipline for violent New Jersey attorneys.

Here, it was a swing and a miss

Based on the vicious nature of respondent’s violent behavior — an attack with a baseball bat on a car occupied by two victims, on a public street – we determine that a three-month suspension is the appropriate sanction to protect the public and to preserve confidence in the bar.

The DRB noted that the attorney paid restitution and was likely under the influence of alcohol.

The Jersey Journal reported that he was an attorney in the Hudson County Law Department and had been involved in a earlier altercation

In the August incident officers responding to a fight outside a Downtown bar after 1 a.m. were met by Collins, who told them they “had no idea who the (expletive) he was” and said he “knew people,” according to the police reports on the incident.

Collins, who was “visibly highly intoxicated,” pushed one officer in the chest twice and brushed away the arm of another officer attempting to keep him back, the reports said.

When two officers escorted Collins a short distance away, he began pounding on the glass window of the bar and was telling the officers to “lock him up,” which they did, the reports said.

(Mike Frisch)