A sitting justice on the Bronx Supreme Court was arrested early Friday after police stopped him in the Bronx and suspected him of driving while impaired and refusing to take a breath test. Erik Gray, 58, was pulled over at 12:35 a.m. at 189th Street and Webster Avenue, according to police.
Officers suspected Gray of operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs and of driving while ability impaired, according to the New York Post, which first reported the arrest. Police also suspected him of refusing to take a breath test at the scene, the outlet reported. A police source told the paper that a person charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs may have been taking prescription medication.
Under New York law, refusing a breathalyzer triggers an immediate automatic suspension of a driver’s license, according to the Post’s reporting. Separately, state statute spells out that no one may operate a vehicle while their ability to do so is impaired by alcohol consumption, according to New York Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1192. A refusal to submit to a chemical test can also trigger a separate administrative hearing; per the New York State Unified Court System’s Ask a Law Librarian service, that hearing investigates the alleged refusal and determines whether a driver’s license or driving privileges should be revoked.
Who Is Judge Erik Gray?
Gray did not return a telephone message seeking comment, the Post reported. The Office of Court Administration, which oversees New York state’s court system, also did not return an email seeking comment, according to the same report.
Gray is an acting justice of the Bronx County Supreme Court in New York’s 12th Judicial District, according to a profile from Trellis.Law. He was designated to that seat by Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas in 2024, the profile states, after first winning election to the New York City Civil Court in 2019. Per Ballotpedia, as cited in the Post’s reporting, Gray ran for that Civil Court seat in New York County on the Democratic ticket; his current term runs through Dec. 31, 2029, according to the Post.
Before taking the bench, Gray spent nearly two decades as a plaintiff personal-injury and trial attorney in private practice, from 2001 to 2019, according to the Trellis.Law profile. Earlier still, he worked as a police officer with the Fort Lee Police Department in New Jersey from 1989 to 1996, the profile notes. The Bronx Supreme Court, where Gray has served, is located at 851 Grand Concourse in the Bronx, the Post reported — an address also tied to Gray in a Part 30 court rules document from the New York State Unified Court System.
A Past Ruling Draws New Scrutiny
The Post’s report also notes that Gray, per the outlet’s 2025 reporting, released a grade-school teacher charged with molesting a girl in 2022 on his own recognizance.
