-- The Linden,
police officer who crashed into a tractor-trailer while driving the wrong way on the West Shore Expressway last month had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit,
.
Pedro Abad, 27, had a blood alcohol content of .24 percent, three times the .08 legal threshold in New York for driving while intoxicated, according to the report.
Police obtained a warrant to test Abad's blood following the March 20 accident, which claimed the lives of passengers Frank Viggiano and Joseph Rodriguez, both 28. Abad and another passenger, Linden Police Officer Patrik Kudlac, 23, were critically injured.
The
had no comment on the toxicology results when reached by the Advance on Friday night. A spokesman for the district attorney's office said that the accident remains under investigation.
Law enforcement sources told the New York Daily News that a Staten Island grand jury could hear evidence next week to determine if Abad should be charged.
Records show that Abad had been involved in eight accidents prior to March 20, including two that allegedly involved alcohol -- one in 2011 and the other in 2013. The 2011 charges were eventually dismissed.