Around 4:01 PM on January 3, 2022, Lieutenant Louis Kabo with the Ventnor City Police Department was the first officer to respond to a call of an unconscious female behind the wheel of a 2015 Hyundai Elantra on the 5800 Block of Burk Avenue. Two people shoveling snow in front of their driveways had noticed the unconscious driver before calling the Police. Upon arrival, Lieutenant Kabo made contact with the driver, who was later identified as 31-year-old Hannah Papendick. He relayed over police radio that he would have to administer a dose of Narcan because Hannah was unresponsive and having agonal breathing. First responders with the Ventnor City Fire Department arrived on scene shortly afterwards with Narcan, and Lieutenant Kabo administered the first dose.
Officer Jose Liriano arrived on scene a few minutes later, and Lieutenant Kabo informed him that the significant front-end damage on her vehicle indicated that this matched the description of another vehicle that had been involved with an accident with a city front-end loader at 3:19 PM while they were doing snow removal operations. Ambulance personnel administered another dose of Narcan afterwards, and Hannah regained consciousness.
After she regained consciousness, Hannah insisted she was fine and wanted to go home. Based on their suspicion of impairment, Officer Liriano asked Hannah to exit the vehicle and told her that she was under arrest. Once she was handcuffed though, she decided that she wanted to be taken to the hospital. Ambulance personnel transported Hannah to Shore Medical Center in Somers Point, NJ.
While she was en route to the hospital, Officer Liriano contacted the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office and obtained authorization to obtain a telephonic search warrant for the collection of blood and urine. Officer Liriano subsequently contacted the Atlantic County Sheriff’s Department, and they paged Judge Bernard E. DeLury. Once they were connected with the Judge, Officer Liriano informed Judge DeLury of all the information concerning the incident, and he telephonically granted the search warrant.
After the warrant was issued by Judge DeLury, Officer Liriano arrived at Shore Medical Center, met with Officers Lamaine and Rifkin who were already there, and advised medical staff that there was a search warrant for the collection of blood and urine. After Hannah submitted blood and urine samples and obtained clearance from the hospital staff, she was discharged and transported to the Ventnor City Police Department for further processing.
At the Ventnor City Police Department, Hannah agreed to waive her Miranda rights and answered some of the questions. As Officer Liriano submitted the complaint on the ECDR system on the New Jersey Courts website, he was advised that she had an outstanding arrest warrant from the Union Township Police Department. However, the Union Township Police Department agreed to authorize her release on her own recognizance. Due to a system malfunct
