NEW YORK, Dec. 17 The New York Police Department suspended an NYPD helicopter pilot, praised for heroics and post-Sept. 11, 2001, efforts, after he tested positive for cocaine.Jon Goldin, a 15-year veteran in the aviation unit, was suspended without pay after a hair-sample drug test came back positive, the NYPD said.Goldin's attorney, Paul Goldberger, said the level of cocaine in the sample was not minuscule, the New York Post said Sunday. Goldin later took a urine test at a private lab and passed, Goldberger said. Goldberger said the positive result could have been caused by the officer's sexual relationship with a woman who had used cocaine. We believe, based on her (drug) usage and from what the scientific people tell us, that this is a real possibility, the attorney said, adding that there is precedent for the claim. A department trial date has not been set for Goldin, who was suspended three months ago.The NYPD uses hair DNA tests for drugs, rather than urine tests. Urine tests detect drug use a few days prior, but the hair test can indicate illegal drug usage months earlier.Copyright 2006 by UPI
