{"id":271578,"date":"2026-08-25T00:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/271578\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T00:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:12:14","slug":"off-duty-esco-jail-deputy-charged-with-dwi-after-head-on-crash-in-cheektowaga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/271578\/","title":{"rendered":"Off-duty ESCO jail deputy charged with DWI after head-on crash in Cheektowaga"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) \u2014 An off-duty Erie County Sheriff’s Office employee is facing a driving while intoxicated charge after a head-on collision Friday night in Cheektowaga.<\/p>\n

Christopher Imhof, 35, of Cheektowaga, was charged with driving while intoxicated following a crash on French Road Friday night.<\/p>\n

Cheektowaga police say Imhof was behind the wheel of a Ford Bronco that collided head-on with a Honda Accord, leaving both drivers hospitalized.<\/p>\n

WATCH: Off-duty ESCO jail deputy charged with DWI after head-on crash in Cheektowaga<\/p>\n

Off-duty ESCO jail deputy charged with DWI after head-on crash in Cheektowaga<\/p>\n

Imhof was released on an appearance ticket, but police say “more serious charges are likely after the full scope of the other driver’s injuries come to light.”<\/p>\n

Security camera video captured the crash in front of a 7-Eleven at 150 French Road.<\/p>\n

Dispatch audio from the scene revealed multiple 911 calls came in, with one caller leaving an open line on which only moaning could be heard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Erie County Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a statement that an employee of their jail management division was involved in an off-duty crash in Cheektowaga Friday night and was charged with DWI.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff’s Office did not name the employee, but 7 News has learned it is Imhof.<\/p>\n

The Sheriff’s Office said Imhof has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.<\/p>\n

Cheektowaga police are working with the district attorney’s office to determine the appropriate charges.<\/p>\n

In 2020, 7 News interviewed Imhof after he came to the aid of an injured motorcyclist on Route 5, performing first aid he had learned while serving as a combat medic.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WKBW) \u2014 An off-duty Erie County Sheriff’s Office employee is facing a driving while intoxicated charge…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-271578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}