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As police told it: A man jumped on the hood of his sedan in an effort to stop his estranged wife and their son from stealing it as countless java junkies and bemused motorists looked on.
The vehicle in question: A Ford Fusion.
Joanne Schielzo, 55, of Garfield was "unsatisfied" with her husband getting the $25,000 sedan in their impending divorce, Rochelle Park Police Lt. James M. DePreta said.
So she "concocted a plan to regain possession," the lieutenant said.
First, Schielzo lured her estranged 61-year-old husband from his Pennsylvania home to the Public Storage Facility on northbound Route 17 in Rochelle Park "under the pretense that he was to pick up belongings prior to a divorce," DePreta said.
He arrived at 10:30 a.m. Monday, Dec. 5.
"Once inside the facility, his son grabbed him from behind while his wife removed the car keys from his pocket," DePreta said.
Frank Schielzo, 20, drove off in his father's Fusion while his mother left in her Lincoln Continental, the lieutenant said.
Both returned in the Lincoln a short time later, however.
Pulling up to the victim, they tossed out a bag of belongings that had been in his car, DePreta said.
At that point the man jumped on the hood of the Continental on the shoulder of the busy highway in an attempt to avoid being stranded, he said.
He either fell or was pulled off and the pair once again fled, the lieutenant said.
DePreta was among several responding officers who found the victim just off the road between the Rochelle Park storage facility and the Paramus Starbucks next door. His belongings were strewn around him.
Witnesses showed police images of the incident that they'd captured on their cellphones, DePreta said.
Joanne and Frank Schielzo were arrested a short time later. Police charged both with robbery and theft and sent them to the Bergen County Jail to await initial appearances in Superior Court in Hackensack.
A judge ordered them released less than 24 hours later.
Police Chief Dean Pinto praised the responding officers -- including DePreta, Officers Jim Zenock and Joe Buono and Detectives Brian Gallina and Brian Cobb -- for their work hashing out circumstances that "extended far beyond the surface of the initial reports."
The chief also urged citizens not to try and take the law into their own hands. That's what the legal system is for, he said.
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