• Chief Leonard Guida admonished Sergeant William Major for wearing a police jacket with a peeling logo
• When he refused to let Major return to a crash scene, Major shoved him and remarked that he was ‘drunk again’
• Guida subsequently relieved the sergeant of his duties and suspended him, but it was the chief who later ended up on administrative leave

A New Jersey police sergeant slammed his own chief against the hood of a car, accusing him of being ‘drunk again’ during a heated altercation at a crash scene. 

The November 9, 2023 confrontation was captured in bodycam footage first obtained by TAPinto as officers from the Bradley Beach Police Department responded to a multi-car accident.

When Chief Leonard Guida arrived on scene around 10:30 pm, he was clad in sneakers and casual athletic wear.

He pulled Sergeant William Major away from the crash to chastise him for wearing a jacket with a peeling decal.

‘Why you got a jacket on that’s not fit to be worn?’ Guida admonished. ‘Get rid of it. That’s ridiculous. You’re a sergeant, for God’s sake.’

Major removed the jacket and attempted to return to the scene.

‘Chief, I am on a DWI,’ Major said, addressing the driver responsible for the crash, who was later slapped with a driving while intoxicated charge.

But Guida continued to ask Major to walk back to the sidewalk with him. 

‘I am working, I don’t have time to argue about a jacket,’ Major responded.

Guida grabbed at Major’s right arm, prompting the sergeant to push Guida backward and slam him onto the hood of a police cruiser.

While shouting at him, Major pulled Guida off the car and shoved him to another police officer standing nearby.

‘Drunk again,’ Major remarked while reaching to pick Guida’s fallen keys up off the pavement.

‘Take him in,’ Guida repeatedly urged the other officers. But the officers braced Guida in their arms and did budge.

‘Chief, get out of here, or you are going to get locked up!’ Major shouted.

‘You were grabbing me, I asked you three times to leave me alone. You’re obstructing my DWI.’

Guida walked over to the sidewalk with Major, where he relieved the sergeant of his duties and suspended him.

He instructed Major to wait for him at headquarters, stating, ‘That’s an order.’  

As Major obliged and attempted to drive back to headquarters, Guida said, ‘You know I love you.’

The shocking footage prompted an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office into Guida’s conduct.

The police chief was placed on paid administrative leave in December 2023 and has yet to return to work. He is regularly paid $174,000 each year.

Captain James Arnold has served in his place since then, while Major has returned to work full-time for the department.

In a statement, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said the agency  ‘forwarded (its) findings to the Borough of Bradley Beach for its review.’

‘We fully expect that the actions we have taken, and the additional actions pending in Bradley Beach, will collectively remedy this issue,’ the statement read.