EXCLUSIVE REPORT: A man who was killed after throwing himself in front of a passenger-less train in East Rutherford last night carried a bit of alcohol-soaked baggage with him.
Shaun Campbell had no fewer than 16 DWI convictions and 78 suspended-license violations on his driving record and had only been out of prison several months after serving more than two years for driving-related convictions.
He also had his driver’s license taken away for 41 years in 2009.
The 6-foot-1-inch, gray-eyed Campbell was involved in several crashes in which people were injured, though no one was killed or hurt seriously.
In one, his a 1994 Ford Bronco slammed head-on into a 2008 Ford pickup, injuring a man and his 4-year-old daughter. Police said they caught Campbell after he fled into a nearby reservation.
His blood-alcohol level: .288
In addition to the DWIs, he also had a brief criminal record that involved trespassing and hindering apprehension, among other offenses.
Campbell, 44, spent several months in prison for his driving offenses, which stretched to Riverdale, Wayne, Pequannock, Morris Township,
He was first convicted of drunk driving in 1987 – when he was 17. That was the same year he established a contracting company out of East Rutherford that did basement waterproofing, concrete and other home improvements.
In a little over 20 years, Campbell racked up 39 motor-vehicle offenses and 39 administrative violations, including failing to show up for court and ignoring fines.
“There are just some people that you can’t help,” said one lawyer who specialized in DWI cases. “Most of the clients I have worked with learn their lesson and try to make a clean start of things following a brush with the law as it applies to driving under the influence of alcohol. But other people convicted of driving while intoxicated go back and make the same mistakes over and over again.”
Judges often had harsh words for Campbell, with one calling him a “public danger and hazard.”
“When you get behind the wheel in a drunken stupor, you become a potential assassin,” Superior Court Judge Salem Ahto in Morris County told Campbell.