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AG Releases Video, Audio In Death Of Edison Man, 55, Hit By Police Car On Route 18 AG Releases Video, Audio In Death Of Edison Man, 55, Hit By Police Car On Route 18
AG Releases Video, Audio In Death Of Edison Man, 55, Hit By Police Car On Route 18 Authorities on Thursday released a grainy, tilted-angle video of a 55-year-old Edison man who was struck and killed by a police car as he walked on a darkened Route 18 last month. What also remained unclear was why Julius Filep was walking toward oncoming traffic in the highway’s northbound lanes in East Brunswick shortly after 3:30 a.m. Aug. 1. An East Brunswick police officer was responding to another accident when his cruiser struck Filep in front of the AAA Insurance center, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. Filep was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson Univer…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Man Struck, Killed By Police Car On Route 18 Identified Man Struck, Killed By Police Car On Route 18 Identified
Man Struck, Killed By Police Car On Route 18 Identified UPDATE: A man who was struck and killed by a police car as he walked in the roadway on Route 18 was identified Thursday as a 55-year-old Edison resident. Authorities didn’t say whether they’d determined why Julius Filep was walking on the highway when he was struck in front of the AAA Insurance center on the northbound highway in East Brunswick shortly after 3:30 a.m. Sunday. An officer was on duty and in uniform as he headed north to a crash in the highway’s southbound lanes when the police cruiser struck Filep, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said. He was pronounced d…

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by Jerry DeMarco
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NJ Attorney General: Man On Darkened Route 18 Struck, Killed By Police Car NJ Attorney General: Man On Darkened Route 18 Struck, Killed By Police Car
NJ Attorney General: Man On Darkened Route 18 Struck, Killed By Police Car A man was in the roadway when he was struck and killed on Route 18 by a police car before dawn Sunday, authorities confirmed. The East Brunswick officer was on duty and in uniform when the marked vehicle struck the man in front of the AAA Insurance center on the northbound highway at 3:35 a.m., Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Sunday evening. The man, whose identity was temporarily being withheld, was pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital at 4:13 a.m., the attorney general said. State law and his own guidelines require Bruck's office to investiga…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison
Getaway Driver In 7-County North Jersey Holdup Spree Heads To Federal Prison The wheelman in nearly two dozen gas station and convenience store armed robberies in North Jersey was sent to federal prison for at least nine years. Meshach Whagar, 31, of Newark must serve just about all of the 110-month sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in Newark on Wednesday because there’s no parole in the federal prison system. Whager admitted late last year that he drove the getaway car during the 20 predawn holdups in seven counties -- Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Union -- in November and December of 2017 (see list of locations below). The gunman…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Central Jersey Man Beat Acquaintance To Death With Baseball Bat, Prosecutor Says Central Jersey Man Beat Acquaintance To Death With Baseball Bat, Prosecutor Says
Central Jersey Man Beat Acquaintance To Death With Baseball Bat, Prosecutor Says A Central Jersey man is accused of beating his acquaintance to death with a baseball bat, authorities said. Curtis Wright, 57, was charged with murder in the early Saturday morning death of Howard Smith, 53, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone and Chief Frank LoSacco said. Police responding to a Main Avenue home in East Brunswick on reports of an unconscious man found Smith with signs of blunt force trauma around 6:50 a.m., authorities said. Smith was pronounced dead at the scene.  An investigation by Detective Alex Danese of the East Brunswick Police Department and Dete…

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Central Jersey Man Arrested With 100,000 Child Pornography Images, Prosecutor Says Central Jersey Man Arrested With 100,000 Child Pornography Images, Prosecutor Says
Central Jersey Man Arrested With 100,000 Child Pornography Images, Prosecutor Says Eight residents of Middlesex County have been arrested on child pornography charges, authorities, including one man who possessed 100,000 illegal images.  Presently, the investigations appear to be unrelated and the suspects do not know each other, authorities said. On Thursday, police officers from the East Brunswick, Edison, Highland Park, Monroe, New Brunswick, North Brunswick, Perth Amboy and Sayreville Police Departments along with detectives from the New Jersey State Police and the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office made warranted searches at six homes countywide…

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by Jon Craig
News
NJ Native, Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick Died Of Natural Causes -- Not Riot Injuries, ME Says NJ Native, Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick Died Of Natural Causes -- Not Riot Injuries, ME Says
NJ Native, Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick Died Of Natural Causes -- Not Riot Injuries, ME Says New Jersey native and U.S. Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick who was injured in last January's Capitol riots died of natural causes following a pair of strokes -- not injuries sustained in the riot, the DC medical examiner told the Washington Post. Sicknick, 42, originally of New Brunswick, had bear spray discharged in his face by protestors and later collapsed after returning to his office. He died eight hours later. Medical Examiner Francisco J. Diaz told The Post there was no evidence that Sicknick suffered an allergic reaction to chemical irritants, and that there was no evidence of inte…

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by Cecilia Levine
Obituaries
New Jersey's Marsha Zazula Dies, 68 New Jersey's Marsha Zazula Dies, 68
New Jersey's Marsha Zazula Dies, 68 Megaforce Records co-founder and New Jersey resident Marsha Zazula died on Sunday, Jan. 10. She was 68 years old. According to Variety, Zazula died after battling cancer. "The world of music owes a debt of gratitude to Marsha Zazula, who along with her husband Jon gave birth to some of the most musically significant artists," Megaforce said in a statement. "Marsha was one of a kind and taught the world to be fiercely independent. Megaforce and our artists will never forget her. In our hearts she will always be a guiding force. R.I.P." Zazula and her husband Jon in 1982 co-founded Megafo…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Capitol Officer Who Died In Riots Was NJ Native Who Wrote Countless Letters To Local Papers Capitol Officer Who Died In Riots Was NJ Native Who Wrote Countless Letters To Local Papers
Capitol Officer Who Died In Riots Was NJ Native Who Wrote Countless Letters To Local Papers The 42-year-old U.S. Capitol police officer killed in Wednesday's riots is a military veteran from New Jersey. Brian Sicknick was injured while physically engaging with protestors during the riot and collapsed when he returned to his division office, the Capitol Police said. He died the following day, they said. Sicknick graduated from Middlesex County Vocational Technical High School in East Brunswick in 1997, according to a 1998 article in Central New Jersey Home News published in Heavy.com. U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick embodied the selfless spirit of his native state…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Feds: Newark Wheelman Cops Plea In 7-County Armed Robbery Spree Feds: Newark Wheelman Cops Plea In 7-County Armed Robbery Spree
Feds: Newark Wheelman Cops Plea In 7-County Armed Robbery Spree An ex-con from Newark told a federal judge on Thursday that he was the getaway driver in a string of overnight convenience store and gas station robberies in Bergen, Passaic, Hudson, Essex, Middlesex, Morris and Union counties. Meshach Whagar, 31, admitted during a video-conferenced plea hearing that he was the wheelman during the 20 predawn holdups in November and December of 2017, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. It included robberies in Lodi, Mahwah, Elmwood Park, Clifton, Hoboken, Bayonne, Kearny, Parsippany, Rockaway, Morris Plains, West Orange, East Brunswick, South River, Edison, …

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
These Central Jersey Schools Had Early Dismissals These Central Jersey Schools Had Early Dismissals
These Central Jersey Schools Had Early Dismissals While snow won't effect many New Jersey schoolchildren learning remotely, others could have a day off. Update: Monroe Township Public Schools was the first in the region to announce a snow day and no classes on Thursday due to the heavy snowfall. ALSO SEE: An updated list of Thursday's school closings due to snow can be found by clicking here.  Other districts began announcing early dismissal plans for this week's storm, which could drop up to two feet of snow on Central Jersey. Among them:  Holmdel Township Public Schools are using an early release schedule on Wednesday. New …

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by Cecilia Levine
Police & Fire
Feds: Agents Find More Victims Of Elizabeth Pimp Who Beat, Raped Out-Of-State Escorts Feds: Agents Find More Victims Of Elizabeth Pimp Who Beat, Raped Out-Of-State Escorts
Feds: Agents Find More Victims Of Elizabeth Pimp Who Beat, Raped Out-Of-State Escorts For several years, an Elizabeth man lured out-of-state escorts to New Jersey with promises of tens of thousands of dollars for sex and then choked, raped and threatened them, federal authorities charged. FBI agents captured Jose Torres, 43, after finding four victims but suspected there were more. They were right. Two more travelled from New York to New Jersey to work for Torres as prostitutes, an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Newark this week says. Torres met the escorts through websites such as EROS, Erotic Monkey, Tryst and Backpage, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.…

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by Jerry DeMarco