A decorated Nassau police veteran accepted a plea bargain Thursday for driving under the influence.

With his guilty plea, Vincent Muscarnera, 57, admitted to driving drunk when he smashed his patrol car into a telephone pole in July 2006. Muscarnera was on his way home from a retirement party for a fellow officer when he crashed on Jericho Turnpike in Westbury.

Police on the scene did not test for alcohol, but the district attorney's office obtained a warrant for a blood test while Muscarnera was in the hospital. Muscarnera's blood alcohol level was .21, nearly three times the legal limit, according to the district attorney's office. However, a judge later ruled that test was inadmissible as evidence because it violated doctor-patient privilege.

Muscarnera is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 27. His plea deal calls for a 90-day suspension of his driver's license, $1,500 in fines, three years probation and the performance of 50 hours of community service.