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Press of Atlantic City, The (NJ) February 25, 2004 Section: Region Edition: All Page: A1 PARKWAY TOLL TAKER FIRED OVER ROAD RAGE DAN P. LEE Staff Writer, (609) 272-7209 Authorities say Jason Glassey was on his way home from work and in uniform last year when he repeatedly fired a paintball gun at a van that cut him off. A Garden State Parkway toll collector who faces a criminal charge stemming from an off-duty parkway road-rage incident has lost his $44,452-a-year job. The state highway authority's Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to fire Egg Harbor Township resident Jason Glassey, who had worked as a parkway toll collector since 1998, highway authority spokesman Joe Orlando said. Glassey, who had been suspended without pay since the incident last November, also is accused of acting improperly while on the job by handing motorists parkway pamphlets he marked up to mock the governor and a highway executive. But Orlando said that matter played no part in the commission's decision to terminate Glassey's employment. "That really never was part of this process; it was something that was found out subsequent and I guess people wanted to bring attention to it," Orlando said of the pamphlet issue. "This wasn't a political case," he said. "The bottom line is, he's a toll collector - he represents this authority - and the behavior (in the paintball incident) was just beyond acceptable terms." Glassey, son of Stanley R. Glassey - vice chairman of the South Jersey Transportation Authority and a Republican Egg Harbor Township committeeman - apparently has not disputed that he fired at the vehicle. But he maintained that the action was not egregious enough to warrant him being fired. Repeated attempts Tuesday to reach Glassey and his union representative were unsuccessful. The elder Glassey said Tuesday evening that neither he nor his son would have any comment. On Nov. 21, Glassey was heading north on the parkway on his way home from work at the Cape May toll plaza when he was cut off by a passing van. Glassey, who was wearing his parkway uniform, pulled out a paintball gun and fired repeatedly at the vehicle, hitting it with blue paint pellets that exploded on its side. The driver of the van continued driving and approached a State Police officer patrolling the roadway, telling him what happened and providing him with a description of Glassey's vehicle, according to authorities. A few minutes later, an officer pulled Glassey over and arrested him, charging him with possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose - a felony - and interfering with a vehicle in transit. State highway authority officials immediately opened an internal investigation into Glassey after learning of the charges. It led to the discovery that Glassey had been distributing to his tollbooth customers parkway pamphlets he had altered, some of which were found in his tollbooth and some at other tollbooths, where confused motorists apparently turned them in, officials said. The pamphlets, which included parkway maps and other guides, featured photos of Democratic Gov. James E. McGreevey and Timothy McDonough, head of the highway authority's parkway division, with black eyes, glasses and mustaches drawn onto them, as well as expletives such as "ass" written beside them, according to officials. Glassey's father said in an interview in December that the situation did not constitute news and was being blown out of proportion for political reasons. He also said that his son's right to privacy was being violated. "The only thing he's guilty of is the road-rage thing, and it wasn't a big deal," Glassey's father said. "One guy cut one guy off. It happens all the time. It was no big deal." In 1997, the elder Glassey said publicly that he wanted to get his son a summer job at the Atlantic City Expressway, which is operated by the South Jersey Transportation Authority, but ultimately heeded warnings that he would be accused of nepotism. A representative of the Cape May County Prosecutor's office said Tuesday that officials still are reviewing the road-rage case against Glassey for possible presentation to a grand jury. To e-mail Dan P. Lee at The Press: DLee@pressofac.com Copyright, 2004, South Jersey Publishing Company t/a The Press of Atlantic City |