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Gold9472
11-07-2005, 12:45 PM
Not in the script
Firefighter charged with DWI after police say he stole delivery truck and crashed it into Chelsea movie set

http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/newyork/nyc-nyfire054499512nov05,0,6009958.story?coll=nyc-nynews-print

BY WILLIAM MURPHY AND ROCCO PARASCANDOLA
STAFF WRITERS

November 5, 2005

A drunken probationary firefighter who is a Harvard University graduate stole a delivery truck Friday morning and crashed it into an idle movie set in Chelsea where Oliver Stone's Sept. 11 film is being shot, police and sources said.

Eugene Scharf, 26, who lives near the United Nations, was awaiting arraignment Friday night on charges of grand larceny, driving while intoxicated and possession of a weapon, a knife.

Neither the Fire Department nor police offered any explanation for his behavior - except that he was allegedly drunk.

[CORRECTION: A story yesterday incorrectly stated the blood-alcohol level of probationary firefighter Eugene Scharf, 26, who was arrested after allegedly stealing a delivery truck Friday and crashing it into a movie set in Chelsea. His blood-alcohol level was .17, more than twice the legal limit of .08, according to police. Pg. A27 NS; A23 C] Police said his blood-alcohol level was 1.7, twice the legal limit of .08. Scharf was assigned to Ladder Co. 16 on East 67th Street.

A man who grabbed him as he tried to leave the scene of the crash told police Scharf offered money to let him go.

"When I caught up to him, he was like, 'Cool, man. Cut me loose. Cut me loose. You know who my family are,' " Benjamin Washington told reporters later.

"He said some name, but I wasn't really listening," Washington said. "I was like, 'I don't care who your mom or dad is. You could have killed somebody back there.'"

The Fire Department said Scharf has been suspended without pay, and refused to say anything about his personal life.

Police said the incident began about 5:25 a.m. when Scharf, who has been a firefighter for six months, jumped into an unattended delivery truck that was idling at 40th Street and 10th Avenue.

He hit a parked truck at 14th Street and Seventh Avenue and then crashed into a commercial building at 347 W. 14th St. at about 6 a.m., police said.

The crew of the still-untitled movie had not arrived for work yet, film publicist Rachel Aberly said. She said two vehicles being used by the production company were damaged, but that shooting went on during the day as scheduled.

There were no injuries, Aberly and police said.