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SWAT Standoff Ends Peacefully In Saddle Brook SWAT Standoff Ends Peacefully In Saddle Brook
SWAT Standoff Ends Peacefully In Saddle Brook A 63-year-old Saddle Brook man was hospitalized after an hours-long SWAT team standoff at his home. Saddle Brook police received a report of a “resident in distress” at the Saddle Brook Apartments on Finnigan Avenue at 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, said Capt. John A. Zotollo, Jr. “The responding officers arrived and began to speak with the individual from outside,” Zotollo said. “It was apparent this person was experiencing some type of medical issue and was presenting in an altered mental state. “Officers determined the individual was having difficulty cooperating and refused to safely ex…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Pre-Dawn Blaze Destroys Fire Safety Business, Apartments In Garfield Pre-Dawn Blaze Destroys Fire Safety Business, Apartments In Garfield
Pre-Dawn Blaze Destroys Fire Safety Business, Apartments In Garfield Flames blew through the roof and upper-floor windows of a Garfield building that houses a fire safety business and apartments, authorities said. First-responding police officers got four tenants of apartments above Firematic Safety Equipment out before part of a roof and stairwell collapsed in the two-story River Drive building shortly after 4:30 a.m., Police Capt. Richard Uram said. Firefighters battling the intense blaze from the exterior needed about an hour and a half to get the bulk of it knocked down. They had it under control another hour and a half later. No serious injuries were …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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ICY MORNING (UPDATE): One Dead, Highways Closed, Dozens Injured In North Jersey Crashes ICY MORNING (UPDATE): One Dead, Highways Closed, Dozens Injured In North Jersey Crashes
ICY Morning (Update): One Dead, Highways Closed, Dozens Injured In North Jersey Crashes UPDATE: One victim was confirmed dead and westbound Route 3 in East Rutherford was temporarily closed Wednesday morning following what was the most serious in a series of crashes on icy North Jersey roads. Here's a listing of incidents. Mark Kolta, 31, of North Bergen had been involved in an earlier chain-reaction crash on the Hackensack River bridge on westbound Route 3 shortly after 6:30 a.m., East Rutherford Deputy Police Chief Phillip Taormina said. He was struck in another pileup after getting out of his vehicle, the deputy chief said. Kolta was pronounced dead at a local hospital a …

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Hackensack Man Struck By Car Outside Saddle Brook Supermarket Settles Suit For $1.28 Million Hackensack Man Struck By Car Outside Saddle Brook Supermarket Settles Suit For $1.28 Million
Hackensack Man Struck By Car Outside Saddle Brook Supermarket Settles Suit For $1.28 Million UPDATE: A Hackensack man who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was hit by a car in a supermarket parking lot in Saddle Brook reportedly received a $1.275 million settlement from a lawsuit. Richard Kunzweiler was 75 when he was struck by a car driven by a 66-year-old Fair Lawn man outside the Acme in Saddle Brook on Aug. 16, 2018, records show. Besides the traumatic brain injury, Kunzweiler suffered a C7 vertebral fracture, a ligament tear, a spinal cord injury and bulging discs and several broken bones, a suit filed in Superior Court in Hackensack claims. He had surgery that requir…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Fatality Confirmed In Multi-Alarm Paterson Blaze That Destroys One Home, Threatens Others Fatality Confirmed In Multi-Alarm Paterson Blaze That Destroys One Home, Threatens Others
Fatality Confirmed In Multi-Alarm Paterson Blaze That Destroys One Home, Threatens Others UPDATE: Authorities on Saturday confirmed the death of a resident in a late-night Paterson house fire that responders said could have been much worse. Firefighters moved quickly to keep the four-alarm Lafayette Street blaze from spreading, snuffing the threat such a fire posed to the neighborhood of tightly bunched wood-frame houses barely two blocks from the Passaic River. Paterson's bravest responded to a call of a fire with people possibly trapped at 103 Lafayette Street shortly after 11 p.m., Deputy Fire Chief William Henderson said. Firefighters found heavy flames on the second floor,…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Fiery High-Speed Crash Into Garden State Parkway Toll Booth Kills Unidentified Driver Fiery High-Speed Crash Into Garden State Parkway Toll Booth Kills Unidentified Driver
Fiery High-Speed Crash Into Garden State Parkway Toll Booth Kills Unidentified Driver UPDATE: Authorities were trying to identify a driver who was killed when a speeding sedan rammed into a Garden State Parkway toll booth divider and burst into flames before dawn Saturday. The fire from the crash shortly after 3:30 a.m. was so intense that it melted one of the booths at the northbound Bergen Toll Plaza in Saddle Brook, responders said. All of the booths were closed for several hours for repairs, removal of the wreckage and the beginning of an investigation by the New Jersey State Police fatal accident team, NJSP Sgt. Alejandro Goez said. The Route 80 access ramps to the nor…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Saddle Brook Boy Charged With Carjacking His Mom Saddle Brook Boy Charged With Carjacking His Mom
Saddle Brook Boy Charged With Carjacking His Mom A Saddle Brook juvenile was charged with carjacking his own mother, authorities said. The mom was behind the wheel of a rented Hyundai Elantra when she and her son got into an argument and he insisted he be allowed to drive, Capt. John Zotollo Jr. said. The mother "noticed the son had a pocket knife (and) became frightened," Zotollo said. She then "immediately exited the vehicle and called 911," he said. "The son then drove away." Lt. Leigh Cadigan and Officers Adam Georgaros, Peter Romero and Marcos Torres took the boy into custody and recovered the vehicle about two hours later, the cap…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Bergen Nurse Practitioner Charged With Illegally Obtaining Thousands Of Oxy, Adderall Pills Bergen Nurse Practitioner Charged With Illegally Obtaining Thousands Of Oxy, Adderall Pills
Bergen Nurse Practitioner Charged With Illegally Obtaining Thousands Of Oxy, Adderall Pills A nurse practitioner from River Edge obtained thousands of Oxycodone and Adderall pills for distribution using bogus prescriptions, authorities charged. Mathew Testino surrendered to detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Narcotics Task Force on Wednesday. A judge freed him the next day, with conditions, pending trial. Testino, who turned 51 on Friday, had been wanted since being charged with dozens of drug-related counts this past March, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said. He’s accused of “fraudulently obtaining and signing prescriptions on approximately 30 separate occasi…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Beloved Saddle Brook Woman Who Survived Brain Tumor, 23, Killed In Crash Beloved Saddle Brook Woman Who Survived Brain Tumor, 23, Killed In Crash
Beloved Saddle Brook Woman Who Survived Brain Tumor, 23, Killed In Crash She was a blessing to many, a remarkable woman who'd survived a brain tumor with deep faith and abiding humor. Then, in a devastating instant, she was gone. Shock mixed with heart-rending grief continued to spread Tuesday with the news that 23-year-old McKenna Winnie of Saddle Brook had been killed in a traffic accident in South Jersey. The Rutgers University research assistant was headed east on Route 619 in Upper Pittsgrove Township (Salem County) late Monday morning when her car collided with a tractor-trailer heading south at the intersection of Route 77, according to New Jersey State P…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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$1 Million Lottery Ticket Sold At NJ Liquor Store $1 Million Lottery Ticket Sold At NJ Liquor Store
$1 Million Lottery Ticket Sold At NJ Liquor Store A lucky $1 million Mega Millions ticket was sold at a New Jersey liquor store. The second-tier prizewinning ticket from the Oct. 5 drawing was purchased at Adriano’s Liquor, 634 N. Clinton Ave., in Trenton. In addition to the second prize won, three tickets matched four of the five white balls and the Mega Ball drawn winning the $10,000 third-tier prize.  Those tickets were sold at the following locations: Bergen County: Super Shop Deli Mart, 809 Franklin Ave., Franklin Lakes; Bergen County: Quick Stop, 606 Midland Ave., Saddle Brook; and, Essex County: Quick Shop Food, 463 Mou…

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by Cecilia Levine
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Fire Keeps Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall In Meadowlands Closed For Now Fire Keeps Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall In Meadowlands Closed For Now
Fire Keeps Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall In Meadowlands Closed For Now UPDATE: The indoor ski slope at the American Dream mega malls in the Meadowlands will remain closed until at least the end of this coming week following a fire that drew nearly 20 companies before dawn Saturday. "We can promise you that Big SNOW will be back and better than ever, just as soon as we can safely do so," an Instagram post by the company read. "At this point, we are uncertain of how long that will take." Firefighters doused the electrical blaze, which caused severe fire damage to the roof and ceiling and smoke damage elsewhere in the East Rutherford attraction after breaking ou…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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Pre-Dawn Blaze Damages Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall Pre-Dawn Blaze Damages Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall
Pre-Dawn Blaze Damages Ski Slope At American Dream Mega Mall UPDATE: The indoor ski slope at the American Dream mega malls in the Meadowlands will remain closed until at least the end of this coming week following a fire that drew nearly 20 companies before dawn Saturday. "We can promise you that Big SNOW will be back and better than ever, just as soon as we can safely do so," an Instagram post by the company read. "At this point, we are uncertain of how long that will take." Firefighters doused the electrical blaze, which caused severe fire damage to the roof and ceiling and smoke damage elsewhere in the East Rutherford attraction after breaking ou…

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by Jerry DeMarco