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The sheriff posted his own special message around 8:30 Friday night: “To all of my dear friends, I sincerely appreciate your concern, calls, emails and kind words. As you could imagine the hospital KNOCKED me out. I just woke up and doing fine recovering. SORE but will be back at it on Tuesday!”
Speziale was being driven home from East Rutherford after attending a swearing-in ceremony for a county board when he heard a State Police radio report that two men who had just broken into a car and took electronic equipment in the parking lot of the Olive Garden in Secaucus were headed west on Route 3.
Francesca SpezialeDriver Paul Marino was headed up Route 17 with the sheriff when they spotted a vehicle fitting the radio description at a gas station in Hasbrouck Heights.
Speziale, an NYPD folk hero who has a cameo in the latest film “Brooklyn’s Finest,” with Richard Gere, jumped from his motor pool SUV and tried to grab the pair, but they took off.
The chase that followed ended on Route 46, across the McDonald’s just before Liberty Avenue when the fleeing driver suddenly spun the car around, smashing it into the SUV.
Speziale (with Gere) on the set of “Brooklyn’s Finest”
Both suspects jumped out, but Little Ferry police quickly grabbed them nearby. (For full coverage of the incident and today’s court hearing, click here.)
Speziale was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, rather than nearby Hackensack University Medical Center. He was released on crutches, with what a spokesperson for the sheriff called a minor back injury.
Meanwhile, the good-well wishes pour in. One post on Facebook even recommends a particular chiropractor in Wayne. Another advises wet heat.
“whatever you do, do not try to shovel any snow….,” wrote Pamela Sinforosa Philipp. “stay off your feet & rest that back.”
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