NJ Cop Investigated for Cold Comments About Dog Left to Die in River

Last Saturday night, non-brainiac Andrew Mayer of Toms River, N.J., thought it would be a great idea to drive his truck out to the middle of the town’s frozen river and do donuts (drive around in tight circles). He brought along his dog Rolo, a 2-year-old Boxer/Lab mix.

When his truck crashed through the ice, Mayer managed to get out, but could not get Rolo out of the cab. After local police, the New Jersey State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard spent 10 hours — and hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers’ money — searching for the truck, they finally found it Sunday morning, with Rolo’s body inside the cab.

Hee-larious? Sgt. Thomas Yannacone of the Seaside Heights Police Dept., about seven miles east of Toms River, apparently thought so.

“Why didn’t the dog do the Doggie Paddle?” the police officer wrote in a Facebook comment. “And was he listening to Van Halen’s ‘Diver Down’ just before going thru the ice? These are the questions I want answered !!!”

Wait, there’s more:

“Truck plunging thru the ice with a dog inside brings a whole new meaning to FROZEN WEINER or DIRTY WATER DOG,” Yannacone wrote in another post. “What, to [sic] soon, calm down u animal loving freaks…just be glad it wasn’t a cat because that would have been one WET PU….!!!!!!”

Sgt. Thomas Yannacone, ladies and gentlemen!

Because of these comments, Yaccacone is now being investigated — not for his unfunny, offensive jokes, but for violating the department’s policy regarding social media posts.

“In accordance with our procedure for handling citizen complaints, we have opened an administrative internal affairs investigation,” Chief Thomas Boyd said in a statement today, according to NJ.com. “We are required to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation and we anticipate that it will take the next few weeks to do so.”

The policy stipulates that “while employees have a right to maintain personal web pages and websites, their status as a member of the Seaside Heights Police Department requires that the content of those web pages and websites not be in violation of existing agency policy or directives or create a potential conflict of interest.”

Yaccacone will remain on duty during the investigation.

Mayer, who until now has held the title of Loser of the Week, insists he did his best to get Rolo out of the truck.

“He did almost kill himself trying to save his dog,” his cousin’s fiancée, Helecia Morris, told NJ.com yesterday. “He’s completely devastated. His truck, his dog — everything is in this bay.”

Rolo was one of a litter of puppies Mayer’s cousin’s dog gave birth to shortly before Hurricane Sandy in 2012. (Apparently smarts don’t run in this family — spay and neuter your pets, people!)

Mayer was charged yesterday with criminal mischief, careless driving and pollution, according to NJ.com. The New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NJSPCA) is currently investigating Rolo’s death, and animal cruelty charges are pending.

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