Fair 66°
Police & Fire
Somerset County Man Busted With Stolen, Loaded Handgun Leads Cops On Chase: Prosecutor Somerset County Man Busted With Stolen, Loaded Handgun Leads Cops On Chase: Prosecutor
Somerset County Man Busted With Stolen, Loaded Handgun Leads Cops On Chase: Prosecutor A Somerset County man who was busted with a stolen, loaded handgun during an argument later led police on a chase as they were attempting to take him into custody, authorities said. Officers responding to a verbal dispute at a home on Burnt Mills Road found a handgun in an open lunchbox belonging to Jorge L. Mercado, 24, of Branchburg around 6:40 a.m. on Thursday, July 21, Somerset County Prosecutor John P. McDonald said in a release alongside local officials on Wednesday, July 27. The weapon had allegedly been stolen out of Williamsport, PA, and was loaded with a large-capacity magazine wi…

SHARE

by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Man Nabbed With Handgun Following Trenton Police Chase Man Nabbed With Handgun Following Trenton Police Chase
Man Nabbed With Handgun Following Trenton Police Chase A man armed with a handgun was arrested following a police chase in Trenton, authorities said. Officers responding to the report of an armed man near Monmouth Street and Walnut Avenue found the suspect, Semaj Reid, who immediately fled the area on Tuesday, July 5, Trenton Police said in a release on Wednesday, July 13. Reid was caught after a foot chase and found with a firearm before being taken into custody, police said.

SHARE

by Valerie Musson
News
AGAIN AND AGAIN: Allendale Ex-Con Freed After Two Years Charged In Ramsey, Ho-Ho-Kus Burglaries AGAIN AND AGAIN: Allendale Ex-Con Freed After Two Years Charged In Ramsey, Ho-Ho-Kus Burglaries
Again AND Again: Allendale Ex-Con Freed After Two Years Charged In Ramsey, Ho-Ho-Kus Burglaries A Bergen County ex-con with a violent history had been free all of two days when he started up again, authorities said. Justinian Rocco, 25, of Allendale was released from custody only two weeks ago. He’d spent two years behind bars for laying down on a railroad track, stopping NJ Transit service and fighting with police who arrested him. Rocco is already back in the Bergen County Jail, charged with more than a half-dozen burglaries and break-in attempts in Ramsey and Ho-Ho-Kus. The career criminal got into a frenzied brawl with responding officers in a waist-high stream -- biting and kick…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Video Released Of Crash That Killed Two Philadelphia Passengers In Montclair Police Pursuit Video Released Of Crash That Killed Two Philadelphia Passengers In Montclair Police Pursuit
Video Released Of Crash That Killed Two Philadelphia Passengers In Montclair Police Pursuit Video of a brief Montclair police chase that ended in a crash killing two passengers from Philadelphia last month was released by New Jersey’s attorney general on Thursday (scroll down for video). Gregory Dukes, 42, and Cecil Richardson, 47, were killed when a car driven by robbery suspect Todd Hill, 45, also of Philadelphia, crashed on Bloomfield and Ridgewood avenues in Glen Ridge shortly after 4:30 a.m. May 10, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said. Video released by Platkin shows Hill first stopping the four-door silver Hyundai for police investigating a robbery an…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Clifton Officer Struck On Highway, Fleeing DWI Motorist Charged With Assault With Deadly Weapon Clifton Officer Struck On Highway, Fleeing DWI Motorist Charged With Assault With Deadly Weapon
Clifton Officer Struck On Highway, Fleeing DWI Motorist Charged With Assault With Deadly Weapon A driver was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he hit a Clifton police officer with his car on the shoulder of a highway and then led a pursuit that ended in a crash, authorities said. Officer George Balkjy had stopped a motorcycle on northbound Route 21 near Route 46 around 7 a.m. Tuesday when Luis Villalba, 21, of Paterson tried to pass bottlenecked traffic on the shoulder, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said. Balkjy stopped the vehicle and was approaching the driver's side when Villalba hit the gas and swerved toward the officer, hitting him in the arm and leg, Bra…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
UPDATE: Ex-Con Charged In Horrific SUV Crash That Killed One, Injured Others In Paterson UPDATE: Ex-Con Charged In Horrific SUV Crash That Killed One, Injured Others In Paterson
Update: Ex-Con Charged In Horrific SUV Crash That Killed One, Injured Others In Paterson A Florida ex-con with a massive criminal record was driving an SUV that killed one pedestrian and injured several others in a horrific crash in downtown Paterson, authorities revealed. Harold Rasbin, 31, already had grand theft auto convictions on his record – as well as a string of arrests for burglary, resisting arrest and assault dating back to when he was 15 – when a police officer responding to a call of an attempted break-in spotted him shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said. Rasbin took off on foot, hopped into a Honda that had been left running on Oliver Street and sped off…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Stolen Car Crashes On Jersey Shore, 2 Suspects Arrested, 2 At-Large Stolen Car Crashes On Jersey Shore, 2 Suspects Arrested, 2 At-Large
Stolen Car Crashes On Jersey Shore, 2 Suspects Arrested, 2 At-Large A stolen car carrying four suspects crashed on the Jersey Shore, authorities said. Holmdel police said the suspects fled on foot after the crash early Friday, May 13 at Everett Road and Route 520.  Police caught two of the suspects, they said. Two others remained at large. On Thursday afternoon, May 12, an unconfirmed report said that a stolen Mercedes had struck a home at Oakcrest Court off Centerville Road. That sedan then reportedly fled toward Middletown, accompanied by an Audi, reports said. CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES

SHARE

by Jon Craig
News
Carjackers Drag Driver Onto Route 4 Before Fleeing With Luxury SUV Carjackers Drag Driver Onto Route 4 Before Fleeing With Luxury SUV
Carjackers Drag Driver Onto Route 4 Before Fleeing With Luxury SUV An Englewood motorist narrowly escaped serious injury — or worse — when he was dragged nearly 20 feet onto Route 4 by a pair of carjackers who sped off in his Range Rover, authorities said. The 34-year-old victim had gotten out and gone to the attendant to get change for the electric tire inflator when the incident occurred at the BP station on westbound Route 4 near the George Washington Bridge shortly before 10:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21, Englewood Police Lt. Fred Pulice said. As he did, a dark-colored Audi sedan with four occupants pulled in front of the Range Rover, Pulice said. Two go…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Masked Gunmen Rob Man Of $65,000, Lead Police On Roundabout Route Through Bergen, Passaic To NY Masked Gunmen Rob Man Of $65,000, Lead Police On Roundabout Route Through Bergen, Passaic To NY
Masked Gunmen Rob Man Of $65,000, Lead Police On Roundabout Route Through Bergen, Passaic To NY Brazen bandits robbed a man at gunpoint on a Ridgefield Park street of a Rolex watch and a gold necklace -- worth a combined $65,000 -- before leading what became a relay-race police pursuit through nearly 20 North Jersey municipalities. The robbers first headed north through Teaneck, then into Englewood and Tenafly, following the holdup late Saturday, April 2, authorities said Monday. The fleeing bandits eventually made their way down Route 95 to westbound Route 3, up northbound Route 21 to eastbound Route 80 and then all the way from there to the George Washington Bridge before they got a…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Female Driver Wanted For Menacing With Gun Caught With 2 Firearms, Wanted Passenger: Haledon PD Female Driver Wanted For Menacing With Gun Caught With 2 Firearms, Wanted Passenger: Haledon PD
Female Driver Wanted For Menacing With Gun Caught With 2 Firearms, Wanted Passenger: Haledon PD A fleeing driver who wielded a firearm during an argument had a gun under her seat and another under her passenger's -- both loaded -- when she was stopped by Haledon police, authorities said. Leah Ruggerio, 29, "brandished a handgun and aimed it at another" during an unspecified dispute in the area of North 4th Street and Haledon Avenue in Paterson, Capt. George Guzman said. Ruggerio, accompanied by a male passenger, then sped north on Haledon Avenue in a silver Hyundai, he said. Haledon Officer Nasir Mora moments later saw Ruggerio abruptly turn the speeding vehicle left onto Harris Aven…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Central Jersey Man Led 2 Police Pursuits In Stolen Cars — Both Of Which He Crashed: Police Central Jersey Man Led 2 Police Pursuits In Stolen Cars — Both Of Which He Crashed: Police
Central Jersey Man Led 2 Police Pursuits In Stolen Cars — Both Of Which He Crashed: Police A 26-year-old Somerset County man who led two separate police pursuits in stolen cars — both of which he crashed — has been arrested on theft and drug charges, authorities announced. Nicholas G. Aiello first started trouble on Feb. 24, when police responding to reports of a stolen vehicle spotted it speeding eastbound on Route 28 around 9:20 p.m. in Branchburg, Acting Somerset County Prosecutor Thomas Chirichella said. The officer activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and siren, but discontinued the pursuit for safety reasons as the vehicle sped out of sight. A short time later, off…

SHARE

by Cecilia Levine
News
Teen Carjackers Drag Driver From Her SUV, Paterson Police Nab Both After Chase Into Clifton Teen Carjackers Drag Driver From Her SUV, Paterson Police Nab Both After Chase Into Clifton
Teen Carjackers Drag Driver From Her SUV, Paterson Police Nab Both After Chase Into Clifton A driver was dragged from her SUV by two carjackers -- one 17, the other 13 -- who were both nabbed by Paterson police after the stolen vehicle caused a chain-reaction crash in Clifton, authorities said. Officer Eddy Pichardo began pursuing the Honda CRV with Connecticut license plates soon after the teens opened the victim's door and yanked her out at the Conoco quick-stop gas station on Main Street around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, city Police Director Jerry Speziale said. Pichardo followed the CRV into Clifton, where the 17-year-old driver suddenly pulled into the parking lot of the CVS at Mai…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco