An off-duty Jersey City police officer with a checkered driving record was arrested on drunk-driving charges after a high-speed crash Tuesday night.

Authorities say Officer Kevin Freibott rear-ended a car traveling westbound on the Pulaski Skyway, causing the vehicle to flip over. Carlos Zelaya, a passenger in the car, says his wife, 37-year-old Ruth Zelaya, and their son, 2-year-old Jose Carlos Zelaya, suffered severe head injuries. Ruth is being treated at a Jersey City hospital, while the boy is at University Hospital in Newark. Both remain in critical condition. Carlos and his brother-in-law, who was driving the vehicle, did not sustain serious physical injuries.

Freibott faces two counts of assault by automobile and a charge of driving under the influence. Prosecutors suspect speed was also a factor in the crash. He has been suspended without pay and his bail is set at $50,000.

Police say the accident is not the first time Freibott has been in trouble. According to police, Freibott was fired from the Middletown Township Police Department in 2001 after a minor accident for failure to have a valid driver's license. The state Merit System Board later ordered him reinstated. A second cousin of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, Freibott was transferred to the Jersey City Police Department in late 2005. He has a prior DUI conviction, three license suspensions and a number of other prior road violations.