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Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke

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Back-To-Back False Alarms Bring Ridgewood Firefighters, Police: South Hackensack Woman Charged Back-To-Back False Alarms Bring Ridgewood Firefighters, Police: South Hackensack Woman Charged
Back-To-Back False Alarms Bring Ridgewood Firefighters, Police: South Hackensack Woman Charged A South Hackensack woman was caught on video pulling fire alarm boxes for no good reason at two different street corners in Ridgewood, said authorities who arrested her. Firefighters and police rushed to the corner of East Ridgewood Avenue and Broad Street early last week but found no fire after the pull box was activated there, Detective Capt. Forest Lyons said. Moments later, they headed a few blocks down to Walnut Street, again with no emergency, after the alarm was pulled there, the captain said. Lucia Alvarez, 47, was arrested nearby and charged with causing a false public alarm, Poli…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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SUV In Crash Rolls Into Ridgewood Police Car SUV In Crash Rolls Into Ridgewood Police Car
SUV In Crash Rolls Into Ridgewood Police Car An SUV involved in an accident in Ridgewood rolled into a police car, authorities said. The BMW X1 wasn't occupied -- or in park -- when it was separated from the first vehicle on Franklin Avenue at North Broad Street near the village train station Thursday afternoon, Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said It rolled into the police cruiser, which also was unoccupied, the chief said. No injuries were reported. No injuries were immediately reported in the crash near the Ridgewood train station.Boyd A. Loving

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by Jerry DeMarco
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UPDATE: Resident Killed In Ridgewood Senior Housing Blaze UPDATE: Resident Killed In Ridgewood Senior Housing Blaze
Update: Resident Killed In Ridgewood Senior Housing Blaze Authorities on Monday identified a resident killed in a weekend apartment fire at a senior living community in Ridgewood. The body of Denise Dillon, 72, was found after firefighters doused the flames in her unit at the Ridgecrest Senior Housing development on Ridge Road shortly after 7:30 p.m., Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. "At this time, it appears that the fire started accidentally," Lutchcke said. She didn't elaborate, but responders and others said the elderly widow -- whose body was found in a chair -- was a smoker. Ridgecrest Senior Housing in RidgewoodBoyd A. Loving Fir…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Police: Wrong-Way Hit-Run DWI Driver Mounts Ridgewood Sidewalk, Plows Over Parking Signs Police: Wrong-Way Hit-Run DWI Driver Mounts Ridgewood Sidewalk, Plows Over Parking Signs
Police: Wrong-Way Hit-Run DWI Driver Mounts Ridgewood Sidewalk, Plows Over Parking Signs An Upper Saddle River motorist was drunk when he drove into oncoming traffic and onto a Ridgewood sidewalk, knocking over parking signs, before his SUV slammed into another vehicle several blocks away, authorities said. One of the damaged signs was wedged into the front bumper of his Kia when police found Kenneth Nelson, 53, several blocks away, Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. After at first driving into oncoming traffic and on the sidewalk on Cottage Street, Nelson continued down Franklin Avenue to North Maple Avenue around 6 p.m. Wednesday, Luthcke said. He made it to East Glen Av…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Profitable (Uh, Teachable) Moment For Boy Who Found 10 Bucks On Ground, What Would YOU Do? Profitable (Uh, Teachable) Moment For Boy Who Found 10 Bucks On Ground, What Would YOU Do?
Profitable (Uh, Teachable) Moment For Boy Who Found 10 Bucks On Ground, What Would YOU Do? Young Michael Lindenberg just wanted to do the right thing when he showed up with his dad at Ridgewood police headquarters holding a $10 bill. Michael told Sgt. Kyle Finch that he’d found it on the ground, Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. He and his father thought the right thing to do was to bring it to police to see whether anyone had reported losing it, the chief said. Finch told Michael that late July day that he would log it in as found property in the hopes that the owner came forward. If no one did after six months, the sergeant said, Michael could have it. Time passed an…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ridgewood Woman, 56, Charged With Repeatedly Making Bogus 911 Medical Calls During Pandemic Ridgewood Woman, 56, Charged With Repeatedly Making Bogus 911 Medical Calls During Pandemic
Ridgewood Woman, 56, Charged With Repeatedly Making Bogus 911 Medical Calls During Pandemic The last thing emergency dispatchers need during a pandemic are the kind of bogus 911 calls that Ridgewood police said a local woman made in one day. Michelle Westermeyer, 56, “twice made false claims of a medical emergency to the 911 system by calling the 911 dispatch center ten times” this past Sunday, Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. Police who went to her home determined the calls were bogus, Luthcke said. They gave Westermeyer a summons charging her with filing false medical emergency reports and released her pending a court hearing, the chief said.

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Sedan Plows Into Taxi Stand At Ridgewood Train Station Sedan Plows Into Taxi Stand At Ridgewood Train Station
Sedan Plows Into Taxi Stand At Ridgewood Train Station A sedan slammed into a taxi stand at the Ridgewood train station Wednesday afternoon after the 80-year-old driver suffered a medical emergency, authorities said. The village driver didn't require hospitalization after crashing his Honda Accord into the E&K Taxi Stand on North Broad Street just after 3 p.m., Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. He'd apparently had some type of medical emergency, the chief said. Firefighters shored up the building while officials determined its structural integrity. An investigation was continuing. At the scene of the crash at the train station ta…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Tree Planters Joke Of Finding Gold In Ridgewood Yard -- Find Skull Instead Tree Planters Joke Of Finding Gold In Ridgewood Yard -- Find Skull Instead
Tree Planters Joke Of Finding Gold In Ridgewood Yard -- Find Skull Instead Landscaping contractor Alex Kaplan and his crew had just been joking about finding a million dollars or gold bullion while planting trees in a Ridgewood homeowner’s backyard last week when one of the diggers suddenly shouted: “Cabesa!” More precisely: A human skull. “We were on the seventh tree when one of the workers yelled,” the owner of Hillsdale-based Kaplan Landscaping said. “We were talking about a million dollars or gold bullion, and we found a skull instead." They immediately called police to the Spencer Street home. Forensic scientists will need to determine the skull’s age,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Ridgewood PD: Hit-Run Drunk Driver Left Crucial Evidence Behind Ridgewood PD: Hit-Run Drunk Driver Left Crucial Evidence Behind
Ridgewood PD: Hit-Run Drunk Driver Left Crucial Evidence Behind A Ridgewood driver was intoxicated, authorities said, when he smashed his Jeep into a utility pole, took off, and left a key piece of evidence behind: one of his license plates. Officers who tracked down Joseph Haner, 39, gave him several summonses after he fled the May 14 crash on Oak Street, Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said. They impounded his Jeep Sport and released him to a responsible adult, under John's Law.  ****** ALSO SEE: A cardiologist affiliated with Hackensack University Medical Group was charged with DWI after Wyckoff police stopped him no Route 208, authorities said. h…

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by Jerry DeMarco