The saga of Haddon Township Commissioner Paul Dougherty continues as we learned tonight that he originally told police that his wife was involved in a crash and she left the scene.

The information comes to us from a source who lives in Haddon Township and copied and pasted a post in a closed Facebook group, then emailed it to us.

Apparently, a Haddon Twp citizen filed a bunch of OPRA requests and discovered Dougherty initially lied to police. In fact, Dougherty never called 911, he called the Police Chief’s personal cell phone.

I have communicated with the Haddon Twp citizen, who wishes to remain anonymous, and the information that follows is accurate and did come as a result of OPRA requests.

Here is the citizen’s post exactly as it was sent to us:

Good Evening HT Residents!
There are many strong feelings regarding the Hit & Run MV crash involving Commissioner Paul Dougherty on the night of July 19th. There were many accusations and comments, both for and against, Mr. Dougherty. I stand by my statement that Mr. Dougherty needs to resign immediately. After receiving my OPRA request, I feel even stronger now. As taxpaying residents, we all deserve to know the truth, and here it is. (Please know this is all based on written documents that I received through Haddon Township and through Camden County)
The victim called 911 and reported she was rear ended at 9:16pm. She was asked if there were any injuries, and her response was, "I don't think so. I was hit hard though."
At 1:27 into the 911 call, the victim tells dispatch she is still in the center of the road and has not moved her vehicle.
At 1:41 into the 911 call, you can hear a man ask the victim if she is ok and what happened. She explained she was rear ended. This indicates that Mr. Dougherty had already left the scene and it had not even been two minutes yet. This also indicates that Mr. Dougherty was unable to see the vehicle he hit and the surrounding citizens who came to assist the victim all in the same location where he had struck her. This is completely unbelievable that he would not see this from the Walgreen's parking lot where he reported he "waited for the other driver to show up."
Police arrived on scene at 9:21pm and Mr. Dougherty was nowhere to be found.
I have every radio transmission from the victim, the dispatcher, and every police officer that arrived on scene. There is not one call that came from Mr. Dougherty's cell phone or house phone proving that Mr. Dougherty's report of "calling the police" is a lie.
Mr. Dougherty did not call the police .... Mr. Dougherty called off-duty Chief Cavallo on his private cell phone. Mr. Dougherty told Chief Cavallo that HIS WIFE was involved in a MV crash and she left the scene. Chief Cavallo called the "Sergeants Phone" and spoke with Officer Schwartz. Chief Cavallo informed Officer Schwartz that Mr. Dougherty's wife was involved in a crash and she left the scene.
It was only determined after Officer Schwartz went to Mr. Dougherty's residence that it was not his wife driving, it was in fact him. It is known that Mr. Dougherty attended a concert at Crystal Lake Pool this very same evening and was witnessed by residents consuming alcohol. One cannot be investigated and/or charged with a DUI once they flee the scene and are safely at home.
The next interesting fact is Officer Schwartz's activity log from this evening. After clearing Mr. Dougherty's residence, Officer Schwartz noted on her log, at 22:15 hours "Follow up re: above crash Notification made to Capt. Bishop (Lt. Gooley away on vacation) and received information as to appropriate reporting/notification requirements" Why on earth is a 20+ year Officer seeking advice from the Police Captain, so late at night, if there was no underlying issue here?
The MV Crash report does not contain the information about Mr. Dougherty first reporting it was his wife driving. The report does indicate Mr. Dougherty was issued the summonses for Unlicensed Driver and Leaving the Scene of a MV Crash. The next fact, in block 120a of the crash report (This is used to describe the drivers apparent status), Mr. Dougherty was marked as a "00". a "00" indicates "Unknown." The victim was marked as a "01" which means "Normal." This further indicates that Mr. Dougherty did not appear "Normal" or sober to a 20+ year Officer.
With all these facts, I am very comfortable stating Mr. Dougherty has disgraced his position as Commissioner, a Prosecutor, and an attorney. I will keep my personal opinion to myself about a man who would blame his wife to avoid getting in trouble.
I am calling on all residents to appear, and speak, at this coming Commissioners Meeting on Tuesday August 28th at 7:00pm. We pay a lot taxes in this town, and we certainly do not deserve a leader such as this. I'm not explaining to my children how this man blatancy broke the law and is still able to remain one of our town leaders. Last I checked, it is a crime to falsify a police report, so I further want to know why Mr. Dougherty has not been criminally charged yet.
I will certainly be at the meeting, with all documents, demanding answers as well as demanding better for all the residents of Haddon Township. I hope you all feel just as strongly about this town and feel even stronger about who should be running it.
After these facts are now public, Mr. Dougherty needs to step away from his position as Commissioner. You do not get to break the law and keep such a respected position. If he does not do the respectful thing and step down on his own, Mayor Teague and Commissioner Mulroy need to do the right thing for this town and make it happen.

There is much more to come on this story. But for now, one has to ask what kind of scumbag would try to throw his own wife under the bus? We'll try to answer that question on The Bob & Steve Show Saturday morning.