By Billy House
Poughkeepsie Journal

An undercover State Police Investigator will be charged with speeding in an Oct. 6 collision on the Taconic State Parkway between his unmarked police car and an auto driven by Scrabble inventor Alfred Mosher Butts, Dutchess County District Attorney William Grady said Wednesday.

Grady and State Police Officials say it is the first instance they can recall of a New York State Trooper being ticketed for speeding.

"It certainly is a very unusual circumstance," said State Police legal council Jeffrey Chamberlain. "In over 70 years in existence, certainly some (State Troopers) have. But it's very rare."

Butts, 88, who was hospitalized for nearly a month with a shoulder injury, will recieve a ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign, said Grady.

The traffic ticket, which will call for December appearances in the Town of Clinton Court, will be issue formally next week, said Grady. No other charges will be field in the accident, he said.

Two speeding charges will be made against Dennis Callahan, 33, an undercover investigator assigned to the state's Organized Crime Task Force in White Plains.

Grady said the State Police investigation into the Callahan-Butts accident determined that the investigator "was not responding to a police cal, or otherwise engaged in an emergency operation of his vehicle as permitted by the vehicle and traffic law."

State Police investigators have said that Callahan, who lives in Dutchess County, was traveling to White Plains for work.

Grady said State Police Officials intend to handle the Callahan matter with internal administrative action and that he believes "there must be public accountability in a case such as this."

If no public action were to be taken, Grady said he believes "there would be a clear perception that a double standard exists which gives preferential treatment to Police Officers."

Grady said Callahan is charged with one count of exceeding the 55 mph speed limit, and one count of speed not reasonable and prudent. The second charge relates to the existence of debris on the Taconic Oct 6. - a result of the freak October snowstorm two days earlier - and that there were traveler's advisories out on radio and television.

If convicted of the two speeding violations, Callahan could face up to $100 in fines and 30 days in the Dutchess County Jail. If Butts is convicted of running a stop sign and pulling in front of Callahan, Grady said he could face up to $50 in fines and 15 days in jail.

Callahan could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Contacted at his Stanfordville home, Butts said Wednesday that his great nephew, Poughkeepsie Lawyer Robert Butts, would handle the case for him. He said he has been doing "all right," since his release earlier this month from Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck for treatment of a dislocated neck.

Robert Butts said his uncle will plead not guilty to the traffic ticket next month, and said that they have hired independent investigators to look into the accident.

Butts said his uncle has improved somewhat since the accident. "Some days he's better, some days he's worse," he said. He said it "remains to be seen whether he'll make a full recovery."

The tickets in the Callahan-Butts ticket mark a sharp contrast to action taken against a uniformed trooper involved in a July 14 accident, also on the Taconic State Parkway, that killed a City of Poughkeepsie woman.

That trooper, Kelvin Joseph, 24, will be transferred effective Dec. 11 from the Troop K Stormville barracks in Dutchess County to Troop B headquarters in Ray Brook, in up-state Essex County, State Police Officials confirmed Wednesday.

Unlike Callahan - who Grady said was traveling at between 63 and 75 mph in his accident - no speeding counts, or any other charges have ever been filed against Joseph in connection with the collision that killed Cynthia Feldman, 51.

Joseph's speed in that accident has been set by investigators at slightly higher that 90 mph, Major J. Michael Hulihan, Troop K commander, said last month.

Grady has said Joseph could not be charged with speeding - through he was ot in an emergency situation and was traveling without siren or emergency lights - because Joseph was responding to a police call to puck up a prisoner, which precludes prosecution under the state's vehicle and traffic law.

Joseph also could not be brought before a grand jury for other criminal charges - such as reckless driving or criminally negligent homicide - because there were no other elements beyond speeding of wrongdoing, said Grady.

Grady did recommend to State Police Officials in October that administrative disciplinary sanctions be taken against Joseph for "needlessly endangering lives."

But State Police Officials since have refused to disclose what disciplinary action, if any, has been taken against Joseph, and last week denied the Journal access to their file of the investigation.

Chamberlain and Hulihan both said Wednesday that they understand Joseph's impending transfer to Troop B is not related to the accident. Joseph could not be reached for comment.

State Police Superintendent Thomas Constantine, who ironically declared an all-out war this month against speeders in New York, was not available for comment Wednesday.

NO CRIMINAL CHARGES WERE FILED AGAINST CALLAHAN