A 48-year-old Elizabeth, New Jersey attorney was arrested in Cliffside Park last Tuesday night after police say she kneed an officer in the groin during a DWI stop, an incident that could now trigger an automatic six-month suspension of her law license under a state bar disciplinary order that has been hanging over her since 2018.
Yana Chechelnitsky was stopped after an officer observed signs of impairment, according to Daily Voice. Police say the incident happened at 8:37 p.m. on September 8 and that the investigating officer detected a strong odor of alcohol and administered standardized field sobriety tests. Chechelnitsky allegedly told police, per department spokesperson Bill Maer, that she was returning home from a party.
During the encounter, police allege Chechelnitsky struck the officer in the groin with her knee. That officer was evaluated by the Cliffside Park Ambulance Corps and later taken to Holy Name Medical Center for treatment, the outlet reported. Chechelnitsky was also transported to Englewood Hospital after reporting medical concerns of her own, and she consented to blood and urine samples after being advised of her Miranda rights before being taken to police headquarters for processing.
Charges Stack Up From a DWI Stop
Chechelnitsky was charged with fourth-degree aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and issued summonses for operating under the influence of liquor or drugs, reckless driving, careless driving causing property damage, failure to report an accident, and suppressing evidence, per the same account. Under New Jersey Revised Statutes Section 2C:12-1(b)(5)(a), a simple assault against an active-duty officer automatically becomes fourth-degree aggravated assault when no bodily injury occurs, according to Justia Law. If Chechelnitsky is ultimately convicted of a third or subsequent DWI within a 10-year lookback window, New Jersey's DWI statute mandates 180 days in jail, an eight-year license suspension, a $1,000 fine, and two to three years of required ignition interlock use, with no discretion for municipal courts to waive the jail term, per Justia Law.
A Documented Pattern Stretching Back to 2010
Court and disciplinary records reviewed as part of this reporting show this is not Chechelnitsky's first collision with law enforcement over alcohol. Her history began in late 2010, when she was arrested in Ramsey, New Jersey for driving drunk with her children in the car and threatening a man with a knife, followed by a December 30, 2010, arrest for assaulting a Ramsey police officer, according to Daily Voice's historical reporting. In 2012 she was sentenced to 60 days in jail after admitting to driving drunk with her children in the car, attacking her husband with a knife, and assaulting two police officers, and she allegedly vowed at the time to overcome her alcoholism.
The volatility reportedly continued into the courtroom itself. During a sentencing hearing in Hackensack tied to her Ramsey police assault charges, Chechelnitsky caused a scene by walking out while shouting about her rights, prompting the presiding judge to threaten revoking her plea deal before sheriff's officers escorted her to jail in handcuffs, Daily Voice reported at the time. In May 2015, she pleaded guilty in Bergen County Superior Court to assaulting Ramsey Police Sgt. Timothy Schumacher during a drunk-and-disorderly call and was sentenced to five weekends on the Bergen County Sheriff's road work detail.
Prior Discipline Ties Her License to Future Arrests
New Jersey judiciary records also show a 2014 incident involving DWI, DWI on or near school property, an open container, obstruction, and aggravated assault on both a law enforcement officer and an emergency medical service worker, as well as a 2018 Cliffside Park case involving DWI, refusal to submit to a chemical test, DWI on school property, and obstruction; both sets of cases are listed as disposed. In March 2018, the Supreme Court of New Jersey placed Chechelnitsky on a six-month suspended license suspension following her convictions for third- and fourth-degree aggravated assault on law enforcement, weapon possession, and creating a dangerous condition, according to the court's disciplinary order.
That 2018 order carried a specific condition: if Chechelnitsky was arrested again for similar conduct while under the suspended suspension, the state's Office of Attorney Ethics could file a direct certification to immediately execute the six-month active suspension without further notice, bypassing the standard multi-year disciplinary review process. The record attributed her criminal history to alcohol problems and mentioned testing and treatment.
New York License Also Previously Affected
Chechelnitsky's legal troubles have crossed state lines before. The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department imposed a reciprocal five-month license suspension against her in March 2021 based on her New Jersey convictions, before reinstating her to practice that May, according to the New York State Law Reporting Bureau. She was admitted to practice law in New Jersey in 2005 and in New York in 2006, and she identifies herself as an Elizabeth attorney.
