A soused Staten Island Ferry assistant captain, who was suspended three months ago for not reporting an arrest, flunked a Breathalyzer test while working on the dock, officials said yesterday.
Assistant Capt. Robert Sander, 40, was found drunk after testing positive for alcohol during a random test conducted Monday at Staten Island’s St. George Terminal.
The Department of Transportation suspended Sander without pay for 30 days last December after the city learned he had been arrested a year before on menacing and criminal mischief charges stemming from a domestic dispute.
Sander returned to work in January and was placed on “modified assignment” doing dock duty, officials said.
Though the criminal charges were eventually dropped, Sander was suspended for failing to report the arrest to his bosses.
Sander had been previously suspended by the DOT in January 2001 after he left work early when he learned he was scheduled to undergo a drug test.
The DOT routinely administers alcohol and drug testing to ferry workers while on the job.
Sander could not immediately be reached for comment.
Sander could be suspended again or can avoid any disciplinary actions for the time being by enrolling in an alcohol assistance program, officials said.
DOT spokesman Tom Cocola would not comment on Sander’s current work status or the test.
“The agency does not comment on individual test results,” he said.
Ferry employees have come under increased scrutiny since the ferry Andrew J. Barberi slammed into a maintenance pier Oct. 15 near St. George Terminal, killing 11 people and injuring 71.
None of the Barberi crew tested positive for alcohol or illegal drugs.
The DOT has implemented a series of safety improvements on the boats since the crash, including sending teams of City University students to monitor operations and note if announcements were being made as the vessels prepare to dock.
The Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office, National Transportation Safety Board, Coast Guard and city’s Department of Investigation have all launched probes into the disaster.