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Man Gets Life In Prison For Killing NJ College Student Who Mistook His Car For Uber Man Gets Life In Prison For Killing NJ College Student Who Mistook His Car For Uber
Man Gets Life In Prison For Killing NJ College Student Who Mistook His Car For Uber A South Carolina man was sentenced to life in prison for killing a college student from New Jersey who mistook his vehicle for her Uber. South Carolina senior Samantha "Sami" Josephson, 21, of Robbinsville, NJ, ordered an Uber ride home after a night out in Downtown Columbia around 2 a.m. March 29, 2019. Thinking Nathaniel Rowland's vehicle was her ride home, she hopped inside. Instead of bringing Josephson back to her apartment, 27-year-old Rowland used childproof locks on his a black Chevrolet Impala to keep her from escaping, and stabbed her 120 times, prosecutors said. Her body was f…

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by Cecilia Levine
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NJ Uber Carjacker Gets 6½ Years In Federal Prison NJ Uber Carjacker Gets 6½ Years In Federal Prison
NJ Uber Carjacker Gets 6½ Years In Federal Prison A Newark man was sentenced Monday to a plea-bargained 6½ years in federal prison for helping a gunman drag an Uber driver from her car and throw her to the ground during a carjacking. Raquin Tanner, 25,  will have to serve just about all of the term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. The victim was in the driver’s seat of her parked car on Summer Avenue in Newark around 11 p.m. Aug. 13, 2019 when Tanner and two other thugs approached from around the corner, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig said. As they neared the vehicle, video surveillance shows, Tanner “spoke…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Uber Rider Accused Of Threatening Driver With Fake Gun For Oral Sex Indicted NJ Uber Rider Accused Of Threatening Driver With Fake Gun For Oral Sex Indicted
NJ Uber Rider Accused Of Threatening Driver With Fake Gun For Oral Sex Indicted A gun-wielding Uber rider from Fort Lee who threatened to kill a driver if she didn’t give him oral sex had taken off his shirt and was sitting in the front seat when police showed up, authorities said. The Uber driver had fooled Andrew Mendez, 30, into waiting while she ran into a Paterson grocery store to get something to drink, an indictment returned by a state grand jury says. Officers who seized Mendez also found an imitation handgun that the driver said he’d “racked” during their ride, it says. Mendez has remained in the Passaic County Jail ever since the incident on Feb. 16, 2020. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Pair Admit Violent Gunpoint Carjacking Of Female Uber Driver In Newark Pair Admit Violent Gunpoint Carjacking Of Female Uber Driver In Newark
Pair Admit Violent Gunpoint Carjacking Of Female Uber Driver In Newark An accused carjacker admitted Monday that he helped a gunman drag an Uber driver from her car and throw her to the ground in Newark before they drove off with the vehicle. Rakeem McNair, 21, of Roselle, took a guilty plea in federal court in Newark less than two weeks after an accomplice, city resident Raquin Tanner, 25, confessed to his own role in the Aug. 13, 2019 carjacking. The victim was in the driver’s seat of her parked car on Summer Avenue in Newark around 11 o’clock that night when three thugs approached, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael Honig said. Video surveillance shows Tanner ap…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Feds: Armed Fugitive In 7-Hour Hudson Hotel Standoff Was ‘Prepared For War,’ ‘Ready To Die’ Feds: Armed Fugitive In 7-Hour Hudson Hotel Standoff Was ‘Prepared For War,’ ‘Ready To Die’
Feds: Armed Fugitive In 7-Hour Hudson Hotel Standoff Was ‘Prepared For War,’ ‘Ready To Die’ UPDATE: A heavily-armed fugitive who held tactical officers at bay for nearly seven hours at a Secaucus hotel told police that he was “prepared for war” and “ready to die,” the U.S. attorney for New Jersey said Monday. ATF agents charged Rahim Harris, 42, of Maplewood, with being a convicted felon in possession of weapons and ammo, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced. His wife, Haneefha White, 39, of Pottsville, PA, who was with him, is charged with aiding and abetting the possession of firearms and ammunition by a convicted felon. Authorities said they found eight loaded wea…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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FOUND! Missing Paterson Woman Home Safe After Two Weeks FOUND! Missing Paterson Woman Home Safe After Two Weeks
Found! Missing Paterson Woman Home Safe After Two Weeks A missing 20-year-old Paterson woman was home safe, relieved family members friends said Wednesday morning. "This is what community looks like," wrote Zellie Thomas, a leader of the Paterson BLM group, following the return of Nyrah Barner Curry. Both her father and brother confirmed that Nyrah was back after they and others spoke at a City Council meeting about her disappearance, asking why they -- and not Paterson officials -- had to get the word out about her disappearance despite a missing persons report. Thomas didn't elaborate on why Curry was gone and where she'd been. Family membe…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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FOUND! Missing Paterson Woman Home Safe After Two Weeks FOUND! Missing Paterson Woman Home Safe After Two Weeks
Found! Missing Paterson Woman Home Safe After Two Weeks A missing 20-year-old Paterson woman reportedly was home safe. "This is what community looks like," wrote Zellie Thomas, a leader of the Paterson BLM group, Wednesday morning in announcing the return of Nyrah Barner Curry. Both her father and brother confirmed her return after loved ones and others spoke at a City Council meeting about her disappearance and why they -- and not Paterson officials -- had to get the word out about her disappearance despite a missing persons report. Thomas didn't elaborate on why Curry was gone and where she'd been. Family members believed she was headed to a…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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WHOOPS: Ex-Con From Teaneck Fleeing Stolen Car Crash Mistakes Tenafly Police Car For Uber WHOOPS: Ex-Con From Teaneck Fleeing Stolen Car Crash Mistakes Tenafly Police Car For Uber
Whoops: Ex-Con From Teaneck Fleeing Stolen Car Crash Mistakes Tenafly Police Car For Uber A Teaneck ex-con who ran off after crashing a stolen car near the Englewood border in Tenafly was about to hop into what he thought was an Uber – but was actually a police car, authorities said. Officer Manuel Fidel was searching the area of West Hudson Avenue in Englewood following the 5:22 p.m. crash Wednesday on Knickerbocker Road when an out-of-breath Michael D. Lockett approached his cruiser, Tenafly Police Chief Robert Chamberlain said. “Upon reaching the patrol car, [Lockett] said he thought it was his Uber,” the chief said. Realizing his mistake, the 28-year-old parolee began tippi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Stop & Shop Hiring For More Than 5,000 Positions Stop & Shop Hiring For More Than 5,000 Positions
Stop & Shop Hiring For More Than 5,000 Positions Stop & Shop is looking to fill more than 5,000 regional positions. The available positions across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island are permanent and include store roles in bakery, deli, grocery, seafood, produce, front end, night crew and online pickup.  Stop & Shop is also hiring home delivery drivers and shoppers, as well as selectors at its distribution centers. These 5,000 new positions are in addition to the 5,000 Stop & Shop sought to fill at the start of the pandemic in March.  In total, Stop & Shop has invested more than …

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
'Sami's Law' Requires Signs On Uber, Lyft Vehicles To Protect NJ Riders 'Sami's Law' Requires Signs On Uber, Lyft Vehicles To Protect NJ Riders
'Sami's Law' Requires Signs On Uber, Lyft Vehicles To Protect NJ Riders New Jersey will soon require signs, QR codes and placards on Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing vehicles to protect passengers from getting into the wrong car. “Sami’s Law” was named after Samantha “Sami” Josephson, a 21-year-old University of South Carolina student from Robbinsville who was kidnapped and stabbed to death in Columbia, SC in March 2019 by a man she mistook for an Uber driver. New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission Board on Thursday approved the measure, which takes effect once it’s published in the state register. The law will require rideshare vehicles to have a lighted or r…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Palisades Parkway PD: Fleeing Newark Car Thieves Captured After Calling Uber To Cliffs Palisades Parkway PD: Fleeing Newark Car Thieves Captured After Calling Uber To Cliffs
Palisades Parkway PD: Fleeing Newark Car Thieves Captured After Calling Uber To Cliffs Palisades Interstate Parkway police waited out a pair of teenage thieves from Newark who bailed from a stolen vehicle, hid in the woods along the cliffs above the Hudson River, then called an Uber to pick them up. An officer tried stopping the Audi A5, reported stolen out of Livingston, on the northbound parkway in Alpine early Monday afternoon, Sgt. First Class Raymond Walter said. The same vehicle had been chased by police in Madison before dawn that same day, he noted. The parkway driver hit the gas before quickly exiting onto Henry Hudson Drive and heading down the hill into the Alpine…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Paterson Has COVID-19 Contact Tracing Model U.S. Can Follow, Report Says Paterson Has COVID-19 Contact Tracing Model U.S. Can Follow, Report Says
Paterson Has Covid-19 Contact Tracing Model U.S. Can Follow, Report Says Paterson has something the U.S. can emulate: Its coronavirus contact tracing system. The city has been able to successfully trace approximately 90 percent of its more than 5,900 coronaviruses cases, Paterson health official Dr. Paul Persaud said in a recent New York Times article. "Twenty miles to the west of New York City, Paterson, a poor, largely nonwhite city of about 150,000, has been tracing the virus at a level that could be the envy of larger cities," the report says. Two dozen workers who had been trained last year by the Board of Health in communicable disease investigations…

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by Cecilia Levine