Paterson, NJ
News
Carjacker Shot By Paterson Detective Was Armed With Blank Pistol: NJ Attorney General Carjacker Shot By Paterson Detective Was Armed With Blank Pistol: NJ Attorney General
Carjacker Shot By Paterson Detective Was Armed With Blank Pistol: NJ Attorney General A 33-year-old motorist shot and killed by Paterson police was armed with what police later found was a blank pistol as he tried to seize other vehicles after fleeing a crash on foot, authorities said. Hui Zhang, 33, of Pensacola, FL, was identified as the man who died in the police-involved shooting on Oct. 10. Zhang was involved in a collision in the area of Straight and Van Houten streets at 4:12 p.m. that day, according to a release from New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin's office. Zhang "ran from the scene" and "attempted to enter multiple other vehicles, armed with what a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paterson, NJ
Police & Fire
Driver Fleeing Crash Scene With Handgun Killed By Paterson Police: AG Driver Fleeing Crash Scene With Handgun Killed By Paterson Police: AG
Driver Fleeing Crash Scene With Handgun Killed By Paterson Police: AG A driver who crashed his car then fled from the scene with a handgun while trying to enter other nearby vehicle was shot and killed by a Paterson police officer in broad daylight, state officials said. Police responding to the crash near Straight and Van Houten Streets noticed the fleeing driver was armed around 4:10 p.m. Monday, Oct. 10, State Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. The officer pursued the man on foot and, during an encounter, fired his service weapon, Platkin said. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:23 p.m. A firearm was recovered near the driver…

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by Cecilia Levine
Englewood, NJ
News
WATCH: State Authorities Release Bodycam Videos Of Police Shooting Knife-Wielding Englewood Man WATCH: State Authorities Release Bodycam Videos Of Police Shooting Knife-Wielding Englewood Man
Watch: State Authorities Release Bodycam Videos Of Police Shooting Knife-Wielding Englewood Man A chilling trio of bodycam videos released by state authorities shows a fatal Labor Day encounter between Englewood police and a city man who’d just stabbed three people. Bernard Placide has a bedroom door in a West Englewood Avenue home partially open in the video when Officers Brian Havlicek and Luana Sharpe find him shortly before 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6. “Put your hands up now or you’re gonna get shot. I’m not kidding,” Havlicek tells Placide as he and fellow Sharpe stand outside the door, their guns pointed, in the video from three police body cameras. Both of them repeatedly t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Paramus, NJ
News
TEAMWORK: Paramus PD Nabs Trio After SUV Stolen Out Of Ramsey Crashes At Garden State Plaza TEAMWORK: Paramus PD Nabs Trio After SUV Stolen Out Of Ramsey Crashes At Garden State Plaza
Teamwork: Paramus PD Nabs Trio After SUV Stolen Out Of Ramsey Crashes At Garden State Plaza Paramus police captured three thieves who crashed at the Garden State Plaza during a predawn pursuit of two stolen vehicles down Route 17. The chase began on Main Street in Ramsey shortly after an 2021 Audi Q7 was stolen from a home on Deer Trail North near Darlington County Park around 12:45 a.m., Ramsey Police Chief Bryan Lyman said. Officer Christopher Finn pursued the black SUV onto southbound Route 17, where a white Mercedes that had been reported stolen out of Ridgewood joined it, the chief said. Moments later, Paramus Police Officer Michael Cleary got behind the Audi in the area of…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Newark, NJ
News
Bad Heart Killed NJ Man, 73, While In Police Custody, Grand Jury Finds Bad Heart Killed NJ Man, 73, While In Police Custody, Grand Jury Finds
Bad Heart Killed NJ Man, 73, While In Police Custody, Grand Jury Finds Newark police bore no responsibility in the death from heart disease of a 73-year-old man who collapsed in the back seat of a patrol car, a state grand jury has found. Juan Restrepo of Summit had been taken into custody by officers who'd responded to a report of an intoxicated man behind the wheel of a vehicle on June 15, 2020, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. “He was then transported to [an] NJ TRANSIT station, where officials attempted to obtain a Breathalyzer reading,” the attorney general said. “A reading was not able to be obtained.” Restrepo “was subsequent…

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by Jerry DeMarco
North Hunterdon, NJ
News
PARTY TIME: NJ Park Police Union Prez Accused Of Running Up $160,000 Tab On Members' Dime PARTY TIME: NJ Park Police Union Prez Accused Of Running Up $160,000 Tab On Members' Dime
Party Time: NJ Park Police Union Prez Accused Of Running Up $160,000 Tab On Members' Dime A former New Jersey park police union chief indulged himself on the members’ dime, spending $160,000 in dues on dinners at upscale restaurants, airfare and out-of-state trips unrelated to the local's business, authorities charged. Chris Smith, 48, of the Warren County town of Hope, “will now pay his dues,” Thomas Eicher, executive director of the New Jersey Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, said after a grand jury returned an indictment charging him with theft. Smith tapped the funds of two unions he led in a “continuous theft scheme” between 2014 and 2019, when Smith was presi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Englewood, NJ
News
Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General
Englewood Chiropractor Who Violated Patients Loses License For Good: State Attorney General An Englewood chiropractor who inappropriately touched and made sexual comments to female patients has permanently lost his license, state authorities announced. The professional misconduct of Archer Irby, 51, of Leonia was “egregious, depraved, and predatory,” the New Jersey Board of Chiropractic Examiners said in permanently revoking his license. Irby was cleared of criminal charges several years ago, but Administrative Law Judge Thomas R. Betancourt this past April ruled that the doctor had violated four female patients at his Irby Spinal Care office in Englewood by: exposing himself to…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Englewood, NJ
News
Three Victims Had Been Stabbed When Police Shot Knife-Wielding Englewood Man, 22, NJ AG Says Three Victims Had Been Stabbed When Police Shot Knife-Wielding Englewood Man, 22, NJ AG Says
Three Victims Had Been Stabbed When Police Shot Knife-Wielding Englewood Man, 22, NJ AG Says Three people had been stabbed at an Englewood home over the Labor Day weekend, authorities said, when city police confronted a 22-year-old city man holding a knife. An officer fired a taser at Bernard Placide inside the home on West Englewood Avenue off the corner of Reade Street shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said Thursday. A fellow officer then fired one round from her service weapon, fatally wounding Placide, the attorney general said. CPR was in progress as Placide was taken by ambulance to nearby Englewood Hospital and Med…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Jersey City, NJ
News
FATAL SHOOTOUT: West New York Gunman Fires Point-Blank At Police, Shot Dead In Exchange (VIDEO) FATAL SHOOTOUT: West New York Gunman Fires Point-Blank At Police, Shot Dead In Exchange (VIDEO)
Fatal Shootout: West New York Gunman Fires Point-Blank At Police, Shot Dead In Exchange (Video) Dramatic footage shows a fully-armed man shooting point-blank at West New York police, then being shot dead himself. The incident is captured in a compilation of police bodycam footage and home surveillance video released late Tuesday, Sept. 6, by Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin. Several uniformed officers responding to a domestic dispute at the 59th Street home of Kevin Colindres, 32, of West New York on June 3, 2022 had their body cameras activated, Platkin said. Home security cameras in the neighborhood were working, as well. Bodycam footage video recorded throug…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Ridgefield Park-Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
News
Confessed Hasbrouck Heights 'Ghost Gun' Trafficker Gets Minimum 3½ Years In State Prison Confessed Hasbrouck Heights 'Ghost Gun' Trafficker Gets Minimum 3½ Years In State Prison
Confessed Hasbrouck Heights 'Ghost Gun' Trafficker Gets Minimum 3½ Years In State Prison A convicted "ghost gun" trafficker from Hasbrouck Heights must spend at least 3½ plea-bargained years in state prison before he'll be eligible for parole. Michael Maresca, 34, has been held in the Bergen County Jail since investigators arrested him in November 2020 outside the Macarthur Avenue home he grew up in for trafficking the untraceable guns in and around Paterson. Maresca, who operated an aquarium installation and maintenance company, had sold two “ghost guns” for $1,650 each to an undercover investigator at the residence, they said. One of them had an illegal 15-round magazine loa…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Newark, NJ
News
GOTCHA! Gunman Who Carjacked Couple Captured Thanks To Police Drone: NJ Authorities GOTCHA! Gunman Who Carjacked Couple Captured Thanks To Police Drone: NJ Authorities
Gotcha! Gunman Who Carjacked Couple Captured Thanks To Police Drone: NJ Authorities A gunman who carjacked a couple waiting to pick up food outside an Elizabeth restaurant was captured by police thanks to a Newark police drone that followed their Mercedes to Jersey City, authorities said. Rahmel Belle, 22, of Jersey City, and another man were both wearing masks when they got out of a car behind the couple on Morris Avenue around 7:30 p.m. this past April 23, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Pointing a grey handgun with a laser at them, Belle ordered the victims out of the Mercedes and took their keys, cellphones and other valuables – as well as $…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Villas-Lower Township, NJ
News
Current, Former Wildwood Mayors, Commissioner Charged With Scamming Health Benefits Program Current, Former Wildwood Mayors, Commissioner Charged With Scamming Health Benefits Program
Current, Former Wildwood Mayors, Commissioner Charged With Scamming Health Benefits Program The city of Wildwood’s former and current mayor and a city commissioner broke the law – committing “breaches of the public trust” -- by collecting health benefits that they didn’t earn, state authorities said Friday. Wildwood Mayor Peter J. Byron, former Mayor Ernest V. Troiano Jr., and current City Commissioner Steven E. Mikulski were charged criminally for fraudulently participating in the State Health Benefits Program (SHBP), Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. In order to be eligible for the benefits, they needed to be full-time employees “whose hours of work are…

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by Jerry DeMarco