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Police Officer Suspected of DUI After ATV Wreck

UPDATE — State police said Tuesday the two officers are on sick leave and will remain on leave during the investigation. EDWARDSVILLE — State police...

UPDATE -- State police said Tuesday the two officers are on sick leave and will remain on leave during the investigation.

EDWARDSVILLE -- State police in Luzerne County are investigating a crash involving two ATV's that sent one off-duty police officer to the hospital and a second off-duty police officer into custody on suspicions of DUI.

State police said it was at the intersection of Zerby Avenue and High Street that two men crashed their ATV`s in Edwardsville.

Police say the men were riding on Zerby Avenue around 1:30 a.m. Monday when Jonathan Karasinski, 35, of Exeter flipped over.

Investigators said the man riding with him, John Sosnoski, 24, of Ashley, swerved to avoid him but ended up striking a tree.

Neighbor Lois Koval heard the ATV's come down her street.

“It didn`t seem to be going very fast and then the next thing that I heard was the crunching of the metal,” said Koval. “I turned on my porch light. I came out and I could see, I don`t know if it the tree, if it hit a car because I saw a car over here it was black.”

State police said Karasinski was taken to Geisinger Medical Center for his injuries. Police said Sosnoski showed signs of being under the influence and was taken into custody.

The Kingston police chief confirmed the two men are police officers in his department, but said they were not on duty at the time.

Still, people here say as police officers the men should have thought about what they were doing.

"Be held to a little bit of a higher standard because the kids especially. If they see a policeman doing something, I think they`re going to say, 'Well, if he can do it so can I,'" said Mike Gagliardi of Hanover Township.

“What does that tell the kids?” asked Marie McTague of Plymouth. “Then they get in trouble for something and they`re like, 'Well we can do it, they can do it.' So what does that say to the kids?”

The police chief would not comment on either of the men’s employment status and the mayor of Kingston said this investigation is still in the hands of state police.

“I`m sure these guys aren't bad. They probably just had a bad moment like we all sometimes do,” said Gagliardi.

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