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Area schools were locked down after a neighbor reported the Sherwood Street burglary just before noon Friday, Detective Capt. Laurence Martin said.
Off-duty Detective Mike Polifrone was leaving an extra-duty assignment when he spotted the burglars’ fleeing car and pulled it over on Alps Road at McDonald Drive, Martin said.
In the back seat of the beige Honda Accord he saw a Vizio TV.
The lone occupant, 32-year-old driver Porfirio Rivera of Jersey City, “began claiming that he was carjacked at gunpoint and the gunman was still at large in the area,” Martin said.
Rivera, who was wanted on a warrant out of Hudson County, was taken into custody with the assistance of Lt. Bob Franco, Sgt. Dan Dubois and Officer Rick Vanderclock.
Meanwhile, all area schools were locked down as a precaution while police searched for the second suspect.
Polifrone continued on to Alps and Miller Road, where he spotted Keith Angelus, Martin said.
Angelis ran, but Polifrone chased him down and tackled him in a Kenwood Drive backyard, the captain said.
Angelus, 43, of Battle Creek, MI, “continued fighting, swinging his arms and fists,” but was subdued and cuffed, he said.
Inside his jacket Polifrone found jewelry and watches stolen from the home, Martin said.
The Wayne Volunteer First Aid Squad took Angelus to Chilton Hospital for treatment of injuries sustained during his flight, the captain said.
At the hospital, he said, Angelus “assaulted uniformed Officer James Monaghan and attempted to flee again.”
He was again restrained and brought to headquarters, where police determined that he was a fugitive wanted in Michigan.
Monaghan, who wasn’t injured, filed assault charges against Angelus.
Police also charged Angelus with two counts of aggravated assault on police, resisting arrest by flight and by force, burglary, theft, receiving stolen property and being a fugitive.
He remained held in the Passaic County Jail following a detention hearing in Paterson.
Rivera also was sent to the county lockup on charges of burglary, theft and receiving stolen property, but a judge ordered him released pending further court action under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law.
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