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Dwight Morrow High School

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Officer Justified Shooting Knife-Wielding Englewood Man During Struggle Officer Justified Shooting Knife-Wielding Englewood Man During Struggle
Officer Justified Shooting Knife-Wielding Englewood Man During Struggle UPDATE: An Englewood police officer was justified in shooting a man who'd just stabbed three people, a grand jury ruled on Monday, April 22, following a state-required review. Chilling bodycam videos clearly show Englewood Police Officer Luana Sharpe and other officers were struggling over a knife with 22-year-old city resident Bernard Placide when she shot him on Labor Day 2022. A grand jury review was nonetheless required under New Jersey law because Placide died during an encounter with law enforcement. Evidence was collected by investigators with the state Office of Public Integrity an…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Obituaries
Comedian Richard Lewis, North Jersey Native, Dies At 76 Comedian Richard Lewis, North Jersey Native, Dies At 76
Comedian Richard Lewis, North Jersey Native, Dies At 76 Richard Lewis, the iconic comedian who dressed in all black and was raised in Bergen County, died on Tuesday, Feb 27 from a heart attack, his publicist said. He was 76. Lewis lived in Englewood and was a 1965 graduate of Dwight Morrow High School. Getting into standup in the 1970s, he made numerous appearances on "The Tonight Show" and "Late Night With David Letterman," where he would vent about his various hangups, freely using his hands to make a point. Comedy Central named him one of the 100 Greatest Comedians Of All-Time. A Blast from the Past Lewis starred in several sitcoms, i…

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by Sam Barron
Police & Fire
School Security Guard Accused Of Aggravated Sex Assault Of Englewood Student Remains Jailed School Security Guard Accused Of Aggravated Sex Assault Of Englewood Student Remains Jailed
School Security Guard Accused Of Aggravated Sex Assault Of Englewood Student Remains Jailed A high school security guard from Englewood who was charged with sexually assaulting an underage student has remained jailed as the case against him proceeds. Joseph Hicks, a 30-year-old city resident who'd been working at Dwight Morrow High School, was arrested by Special Victims Unit detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office on Nov. 20 following a complaint forwarded by city police, authorities said last week. Hicks had sex with a child between the ages of 13 and 16 "while in a supervisory role,” Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. Detectives charged Hicks with firs…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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
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
News
Superintendent: Outsider Uttered Racial Epithet Used At High School Football Game In Oakland Superintendent: Outsider Uttered Racial Epithet Used At High School Football Game In Oakland
Superintendent: Outsider Uttered Racial Epithet Used At High School Football Game In Oakland The superintendent of the Ramapo Indian Hills School District said Wednesday that the person who uttered a racial slur against a visiting student from Englewood was an out-of-towner and not a district student. The word was used during last Friday night's varsity game visiting Dwight Morrow High School and host Indian Hills High School, they said. Police were notified, said Schools Indian Hills Schools Supt. Anthony Riscica. Riscica said he also reached out to school officials in Englewood. Everyone was leaving after the Indian Hills' varsity victory when "someone used the 'N' word toward…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Now Wait A Minute: Isley Brothers Make 'Em Wanna Shout In Teaneck, Englewood Now Wait A Minute: Isley Brothers Make 'Em Wanna Shout In Teaneck, Englewood
Now Wait A Minute: Isley Brothers Make 'Em Wanna Shout In Teaneck, Englewood Few celebrities have not one but two streets named after them, but that became reality when the Isley Brothers got one each in Teaneck and Englewood. “It's beyond words for me to express my level of appreciation and gratitude,” guitarist Ernie Isley told  a crowd gathered Thursday at Van Cortland Terrace and Van Arsdale Place near the Teaneck Armory. A similar “Isley Brothers Way” ceremony was held at Liberty Road and Greenleaf Avenue in neighboring Englewood. Velvety vocalist brother Ron Isley called it “a spectacular culmination of a lot of dreams and a lot of prayers.” Many know the I…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern Retires Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern Retires
Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern Retires Englewood Police Chief Lawrence Suffern retired on Wednesday.  Suffern, who’d been on vacation and was due to return Wednesday, was Bergen County's only Black police chief. He retired effective Thursday, city officials announced in a release. “Best chief ever to have served our great city,” Mayor Michael Wildes said following the announcement. “Respected in the county and serving since he was 18 years old for the last 33 years.” "What a sad day in Englewood this is!" wrote Rasheed J. Goins. "Thank you for your leadership and serving our community with such grace for all these yea…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Alumnus Claims Englewood Public School Teachers Sexually Abused Him Nearly 50 Years Ago Alumnus Claims Englewood Public School Teachers Sexually Abused Him Nearly 50 Years Ago
Alumnus Claims Englewood Public School Teachers Sexually Abused Him Nearly 50 Years Ago A relatively new law in New Jersey allowed a man to sue the Englewood school district for what he said was sexual abuse by teachers more than 50 years ago. The man identified as “D.H.” in court papers contends that he was groomed as a victim, beginning when an Engle Street School teacher tackled and held him down on a 6th-grade overnight trip to Montreal in 1967. The teacher "held him down with the full weight of his body," the plaintiff contends. The same teacher then got him and other students to drink booze and smoke cigarettes with him in his apartment, the suit alleges. The teacher -…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID Mask Clash: Tech Darling Charged With Bashing Englewood Officer In Face With Radio COVID Mask Clash: Tech Darling Charged With Bashing Englewood Officer In Face With Radio
COVID Mask Clash: Tech Darling Charged With Bashing Englewood Officer In Face With Radio A celebrated startup business advisor with an escalating history of violence smashed an Englewood police officer in the face with his own radio after causing a commotion at a local Starbucks when he refused to wear a COVID mask, authorities said. Frank Denbow, 35, eventually was subdued with help from a good Samaritan, police said. The attack, captured on video, came just weeks after authorities said Denbow kicked a police officer in Wyoming in the chest and sprayed him with a carbonated energy drink. An Englewood native, Denbow has been featured on various online business shows and tech …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Englewood Man In Hudson River Crime Spree Charged With Assaulting Bergenfield Officer Englewood Man In Hudson River Crime Spree Charged With Assaulting Bergenfield Officer
Englewood Man In Hudson River Crime Spree Charged With Assaulting Bergenfield Officer Two weeks after he was busted for a crime spree at a Hudson River marina, an Englewood man spit in a Bergenfield police officer’s face while deliberately banging his head several times inside a squad car, authorities said. Jason Pinilla, 19, “became extremely uncooperative and resisted arrest” after officers caught him with pot behind the Hoover Elementary School on Murray Hill Terrace on Thursday, Detective Lt. William Duran said. “Once he was subdued and placed into the rear of the police vehicle, he was acting erratic and began to bang his head into the partition,” Duran said Friday. Pi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
VIDEO: Englewood Police Charge 12 Students In Recorded High School Brawl VIDEO: Englewood Police Charge 12 Students In Recorded High School Brawl
Video: Englewood Police Charge 12 Students In Recorded High School Brawl A dozen students at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood were being charged by police for a brawl earlier this week, authorities said. School officials also planned suspensions for them of five to 10 days, they said. Making the task easier for police and school officials is a video of Tuesday’s melee (posted above). Six adults students are being charged with failing to disperse, Deputy Police Chief Gregory Halstead said Thursday. Five underage students are receiving delinquency complaints for the same offense, he said. The student accused of starting the braw;, also a minor, was receivi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Englewood PD: Student Told To Stay Home Ignites High School Brawl, Criminal Charges Planned Englewood PD: Student Told To Stay Home Ignites High School Brawl, Criminal Charges Planned
Englewood PD: Student Told To Stay Home Ignites High School Brawl, Criminal Charges Planned A Dwight Morrow High School student who was told to stay home from school Tuesday returned and instigated a brawl that’s expected to produce criminal charges, Englewood police said. “There are between five to 10 students involved [in Tuesday’s melee], most of them 18 years old,” Deputy Police Chief Gregory Halstead said Wednesday. “As we move forward, aggressors who have been positively identified will be charged in all likelihood with disorderly conduct,” he said. “We are looking at charging at least one with defiant trespass, as he was told the previous day not to return to the school fo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Brawl At Dwight Morrow HS In Englewood: Involved Students Barred From Returning During Probe Brawl At Dwight Morrow HS In Englewood: Involved Students Barred From Returning During Probe
Brawl At Dwight Morrow HS In Englewood: Involved Students Barred From Returning During Probe Some students were told not to return for at least a day following a Tuesday afternoon brawl at Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood that was quickly broken up by school security and staff, police said. A boy was treated at the school for a minor eye injury following the 1 p.m. incident in the school's south building, Deputy Police Chief Gregory Halstead said. It wasn't immediately clear what ignited the melee, which the deputy chief said involved male students throwing punches and female students shouting at each other. "From information gleaned to this point, the fight involved rival f…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Englewood PD: Janitor Mistakenly Recorded Himself Installing Secret Bathroom Cam At High School Englewood PD: Janitor Mistakenly Recorded Himself Installing Secret Bathroom Cam At High School
Englewood PD: Janitor Mistakenly Recorded Himself Installing Secret Bathroom Cam At High School UPDATE: An Englewood school custodian accidentally recorded himself installing a hidden camera in a Dwight Morrow High School bathroom used by a female night-shift employee, authorities said. Officials had considered canceling classes while police and sheriff's officers continued an hours-long pre-dawn search of the high school and adjoining Janis E. Dismus Middle School campuses for Francisco Jaius Lopez-Martinez, 59, of Bergenfield, who hid out there when he heard police were looking for him. It began when the victim, who is part of the night shift maintenance and cleaning crew that serv…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
SEE ANYTHING? 'Calm, Composed' Robber Holds Up Englewood Bank SEE ANYTHING? 'Calm, Composed' Robber Holds Up Englewood Bank
SEE Anything? 'Calm, Composed' Robber Holds Up Englewood Bank A robber described as "calm and composed" quietly announced his intentions to an Englewood bank teller over the weekend and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, city police said Monday. City detectives working with the FBI were reviewing “a multitude of surveillance video sources,” and comparing notes with other law enforcement agencies as they try to identify the robber, who was “possibly armed with a long weapon,” Detective Capt. Timothy Torell said. He wore a hooded coat, a mask that hid most of his face and gloves when he entered the Bank of America branch on Park Place around 9:30 …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Englewood PD: Janitor Mistakenly Recorded Himself Installing Secret Bathroom Cam At High School Englewood PD: Janitor Mistakenly Recorded Himself Installing Secret Bathroom Cam At High School
Englewood PD: Janitor Mistakenly Recorded Himself Installing Secret Bathroom Cam At High School UPDATE: An Englewood school custodian accidentally recorded himself installing a hidden camera in a Dwight Morrow High School bathroom used by a female night-shift employee, authorities said. Officials had considered canceling classes while police and sheriff's officers continued an hours-long pre-dawn search of the high school and adjoining Janis E. Dismus Middle School campuses for Francisco Jaius Lopez-Martinez, 59, of Bergenfield, who hid out there when he heard police were looking for him. It began when the victim, who is part of the night shift maintenance and cleaning crew that serv…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Reward Offered To Find Hit-Run Driver Who Injured Englewood Skateboarder Reward Offered To Find Hit-Run Driver Who Injured Englewood Skateboarder
Reward Offered To Find Hit-Run Driver Who Injured Englewood Skateboarder A $1,000 reward was posted Friday for information that helps authorities find the hit-and-run driver whose sedan struck and severely injured an Englewood skateboarder. Surveillance video (above) shows the driver getting out of the car to check the vehicle's grill a few blocks north of the 9:50 p.m. June 11 crash before continuing on. Cristian Valdez, a 15-year-old Dwight Morrow High School freshman, was found soon after in the roadway of Knickerbocker Road near the intersection of Bilmar Place.  Investigators were looking for a dark 2001-2004 Audi A6 that will have obvious front-end damage…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
Rodent Activity Detected In 2 Englewood High School Cafeterias Rodent Activity Detected In 2 Englewood High School Cafeterias
Rodent Activity Detected In 2 Englewood High School Cafeterias A recent inspection at Englewood's public schools found rodents in the Dwight Morrow High School cafeterias, city officials said. A June 19 inspection found "rodent activity" in both the North and South cafeterias of the high school despite an increase in visits from pest control services, Englewood Health Director James Fedorko said in a letter posted on social media (SEE ATTACHMENT). Officials did not specify which type of rodent was detected. "The health department met with cafeteria workers on June 20th and identified areas where improvements can be made to decrease rode…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Video Released Of Hit-Run Sedan That Struck Englewood Skateboarder Video Released Of Hit-Run Sedan That Struck Englewood Skateboarder
Video Released Of Hit-Run Sedan That Struck Englewood Skateboarder Authorities late Tuesday released surveillance video of a hit-and-run sedan that struck and severely injured an Englewood skateboarder. Investigators found grainy surveillance video that shows the driver getting out of the car to check the vehicle's grill a few blocks north of the 9:50 p.m. June 11 crash before continuing on. Cristian Valdez, a 15-year-old Dwight Morrow High School freshman, was found soon after in the roadway of Knickerbocker Road near the intersection of Bilmar Place.  Investigators were looking for a dark 2001-2004 Audi A6 that will have obvious front-end damage, includ…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
Englewood Student ‘Idols’ Hit Recording Studio Englewood Student ‘Idols’ Hit Recording Studio
Englewood Student ‘Idols’ Hit Recording Studio ENGLEWOOD, N.J. – A dozen Englewood students will be cutting their own CDs, thanks to a grant from the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation. The $1,200 grant is being awarded to the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund at the Academies@Englewood for the 13th Annual Englewood Idol talent competition's program. Englewood Idol is an annual singing competition open to any high school student living or attending school in Englewood. The talent competition attracts students at Dwight Morrow High School, Academies@Englewood, and The Dwight-Englewood School. “What an extraordinary experi…

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by Lauren Kidd Ferguson