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Police & Fire
Mailman Charged With Stealing, Cashing Checks From Hackensack, Maywood, Leonia Residents Mailman Charged With Stealing, Cashing Checks From Hackensack, Maywood, Leonia Residents
Mailman Charged With Stealing, Cashing Checks From Hackensack, Maywood, Leonia Residents A postal carrier from Hackensack stole and cashed checks sent to customers on his route in town, in Leonia and in Maywood, said federal authorities who arrested him Wednesday. Juan Torres, 27, deposited the money into a bank account he controlled, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. Torres was scheduled for a first appearance via videoconference Wednesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor in Newark. Special agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General have charged him with mail theft and bank fraud. Carpenito credited the agents and postal inspector…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Palisades Park Vehicle Owner Thrown From His Car Chases Thieves Palisades Park Vehicle Owner Thrown From His Car Chases Thieves
Palisades Park Vehicle Owner Thrown From His Car Chases Thieves A Palisades Park owner got thrown from his car as he tried to stop a trio of thieves in his driveway, authorities said. The Glen Avenue resident saw something going on in his driveway and ran out to find the thieves in his car, said Capt. Anthony Muccio, the department’s officer in charge. He hung on to the vehicle to try and stop them but fell off as they sped away, Muccio said. The resident, who’d sustained some scrapes and bruises, flagged down another motorist and together they chased the vehicle to dead-ended Fifth Street. The thieves tried pulling onto a grass median but hit a park…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Palisades Park Firefighters Battle Extreme Heat, Terrain To Douse House Blaze Palisades Park Firefighters Battle Extreme Heat, Terrain To Douse House Blaze
Palisades Park Firefighters Battle Extreme Heat, Terrain To Douse House Blaze It wasn’t the easiest job: The air was thick, with temperatures still in the high 80s, when a fire broke out in a home on a Palisades Park hill at the top of a private driveway. Borough firefighters lugging hoses and ground ladders doused the Monday night blaze -- saving the house -- with no serious injuries. An air conditioning unit in back of the Chateau Road home ignited, sending flames up the vinyl siding, then into a soffit and roof rafter, shortly before 8 p.m., Fire Chief John Mantone said. Mantone’s firefighters had help at the scene from their colleagues from Ridgefield and Leoni…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Longtime Leonia Firefighter Resigns Over 'Indefensible' Post About Asian American Protester Longtime Leonia Firefighter Resigns Over 'Indefensible' Post About Asian American Protester
Longtime Leonia Firefighter Resigns Over 'Indefensible' Post About Asian American Protester A string of racist insults on Facebook against a young Asian-American protester has cost a volunteer of nearly 45 years his ranking positions with the Leonia Fire Department. It began with a post by a fellow firefighter of a photo taken during a protest in Leonia against the death of George Floyd. A young woman in the photo holds a sign that says “F(***) THE POLICE”. "To my Leonia people, who is this and how do you think this is peaceful?" a comment attached to the photo asked. A thread of nearly 300 comments followed -- many sharing the poster’s anger -- before the June 8 post was remove…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
SpaceX Rocket's Historic Launch Engineered By Bergen County Native SpaceX Rocket's Historic Launch Engineered By Bergen County Native
SpaceX Rocket's Historic Launch Engineered By Bergen County Native A New Jersey native played an integral role in the recent launch of the NASA/SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Sam DiMaggio, a 1985 graduate of Leonia High School, is principal dynamics engineer on the SpaceX project. The sophisticated rocket's May 30 flight from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., carried its first-ever crew to the International Space Station aboard a Crew Dragon capsule. DiMaggio joined SpaceX in 2000 and was a designer on the initial Falcon 1 launch vehicle, the world's first privately-developed liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit in 2008. He received his bachelor…

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by Jon Craig
Police & Fire
SEE ANYTHING? Motorized Robber Mugs Leonia Postal Carrier SEE ANYTHING? Motorized Robber Mugs Leonia Postal Carrier
SEE Anything? Motorized Robber Mugs Leonia Postal Carrier A bandit riding a scooter robbed a postal carrier of a package in Leonia, said police who sought the public’s help finding him. The strong-armed robber pushed the carrier, grabbed the package, then fled Cumley Terrace toward Fort Lee Road on an electric or motorized scooter around noon Tuesday, Capt. Scott Tamagny said. He was described as black, about 6 feet tall and 200 pounds, wearing black shorts, a white shirt and a black face mask. The postal carrier wasn’t injured, Tamagny said, adding that members of the US Postal Inspection Service were trying to determine what was in the package.…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Authorities: Drunk Long Island Driver Leads 10-Mile NJ Chase Toward GWB Authorities: Drunk Long Island Driver Leads 10-Mile NJ Chase Toward GWB
Authorities: Drunk Long Island Driver Leads 10-Mile NJ Chase Toward GWB A fashion sales manager from Long Island was drunk when she led New Jersey State Police troopers on a 10-mile chase from Saddle Brook to Leonia, authorities said. A trooper tried to stop a weaving Nissan Rogue headed east on Route 80 in Saddle Brook shortly after 9 p.m. Thursday, a State Police spokesman said. Jan Kotowski, 45, of North Bellmore in Nassau County, kept going, however, NJSP Trooper Alejandro Goez said Friday. The trooper was joined by another, both with lights and sirens activated, before Kotowski finally pulled over on Route 95, he said. Kotowski was charged with eluding …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Body Of Bogota Man Who Jumped From Route 95 Bridge Recovered From Creek In Ridgefield Body Of Bogota Man Who Jumped From Route 95 Bridge Recovered From Creek In Ridgefield
Body Of Bogota Man Who Jumped From Route 95 Bridge Recovered From Creek In Ridgefield UPDATE: Responders early Monday afternoon recovered the body of a despondent Bogota man who jumped from the Route 95 bridge in Ridgefield Park. The 60-something man left his home around 5 a.m. following a family dispute, authorities said. New Jersey State Police found his abandoned car on the highway before noon and alerted local authorities. Ridgefield Park responders pulled the man's body from Mill Creek in the area of 295 Bergen Turnpike, and he was pronounced dead a short time later. Rescuers from Teaneck, Ridgefield and Leonia also converged on the area along with New Jersey State Po…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
SEE ANYTHING? Englewood Shooting Suspects In Pursuit Bail At Leonia Border SEE ANYTHING? Englewood Shooting Suspects In Pursuit Bail At Leonia Border
SEE Anything? Englewood Shooting Suspects In Pursuit Bail At Leonia Border Two guns came flying out the window of a car during a wild Englewood police pursuit following a shooting last month, said authorities who grabbed the occupant of one vehicle and were seeking the public’s help finding those in the other. Several officers heard gunfire at the One William Street apartment complex at West Englewood Avenue and William Street and saw two vehicles speed away just after midnight April 13, Deputy Police Chief Gregory Halstead said. Police pursed both vehicle along South Dean Street, where the two guns were tossed from a late model Jeep Grand Cherokee, he said. “Whe…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Leonia Police Captain Nabs Queens Driver Trying To Catch Lyft After Pursuit, Crash Leonia Police Captain Nabs Queens Driver Trying To Catch Lyft After Pursuit, Crash
Leonia Police Captain Nabs Queens Driver Trying To Catch Lyft After Pursuit, Crash A Queens driver who crashed a brand-new Mercedes while trying to elude police Wednesday morning in Leonia was nabbed by a borough captain as he tried getting into a Lyft. It began when Officer Nolan Stendor tried pulling over the sedan after it illegally passed another vehicle on Broad Avenue shortly after 9:30 a.m. The driver, identified as Osvaldo Leader-George stopped on Westview Avenue as Stendor pulled up, Capt. Scott Tamagny said. He then quickly got back into the Mercedes and sped away, Tamagny said. The sedan hit a parked car as Leader-George turned onto Glenwood Avenue, but he k…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
VIDEO: Off-Duty NYPD Hero Rescues Man Trying To Jump From Bayonne Bridge VIDEO: Off-Duty NYPD Hero Rescues Man Trying To Jump From Bayonne Bridge
Video: Off-Duty Nypd Hero Rescues Man Trying To Jump From Bayonne Bridge Dramatic video shows an off-duty NYPD officer saving a man trying to jump from the Bayonne Bridge. Police Officer Cory Pilzer was on the bridge walkway with his family this past Sunday when he spotted the 22-year-old man starting to climb the suicide prevention fence, the NYPD said. Pilzer bolted toward the despondent man, jumped and yanked him down by the waistband. They held onto him for uniformed Port Authority police officers, who took the man to Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island. “Always out there. Always protecting — even off-duty!," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
COVID-19: NJ Deaths Linked, Mall Worker Tests Positive, Bergen County Cases Jump To 42 COVID-19: NJ Deaths Linked, Mall Worker Tests Positive, Bergen County Cases Jump To 42
Covid-19: NJ Deaths Linked, Mall Worker Tests Positive, Bergen County Cases Jump To 42 Both of New Jersey's coronavirus-related deaths have reportedly been linked. UPDATE: Murphy Announces Statewide Curfew Rita Fusco-Jackson, of Freehold, in her 50, was identified as the second fatality in New Jersey. She was being hospitalized at CentraState Medical Center. Fusco-Jackson's sibling was reportedly friends with the state's first fatality -- John Brennan, of Little Ferry -- and the virus spread through a family gathering, State Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said.  Several other people at the gathering also tested positive for coronavirus. The number of presu…

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by Cecilia Levine