Overcast 45°
News
TERRIFYING: Children In Separate Bergen County Homes Come Face-To-Face With Brazen Car Thieves TERRIFYING: Children In Separate Bergen County Homes Come Face-To-Face With Brazen Car Thieves
Terrifying: Children In Separate Bergen County Homes Come Face-To-Face With Brazen Car Thieves It can give you chills: Children from two separate homes in Old Tappan came into contact with brazen thieves trying to steal their parents’ cars, authorities said. A bandit tried taking a Range Rover from the driveway of one home while two young girls played in front of it, Police Chief Joseph Tracy said. Hours later, a thief in a black ski mask and hoodie entered an open garage door to steal a Mercedes Benz but bolted after he was confronted by the residents’ 12-year-old son. Although both attempts failed, a third succeeded when a 2022 BMW that had been left unlocked with the key fob insi…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
'We Were All Home': Brazen Bandits Steal Distinctive SUV From Bergen Family's Locked Garage 'We Were All Home': Brazen Bandits Steal Distinctive SUV From Bergen Family's Locked Garage
'We Were All Home': Brazen Bandits Steal Distinctive SUV From Bergen Family's Locked Garage An Old Tappan resident was in his backyard with one of their dogs and his wife and two daughters were inside with the other when thieves broke into their garage and stole their distinctive orange SUV. “The garage was closed and the side door was locked,” the wife said after the 7:30 p.m. theft Saturday. “Not only was it broad daylight -- we were all home,” she said. “They literally had to pick a lock to get into the garage, then had to do a five-point turn to get the car out.” A thief dressed all in black with a “1977” logo on his clothing emerged from an all-black BMW that pulled up to th…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT: Brazen Thieves Steal Vehicle From Garage While Bergen Family Is Home IN BROAD DAYLIGHT: Brazen Thieves Steal Vehicle From Garage While Bergen Family Is Home
IN Broad Daylight: Brazen Thieves Steal Vehicle From Garage While Bergen Family Is Home An Old Tappan resident was in his backyard with one of their dogs and his wife and two daughters were inside with the other when thieves broke into their garage and stole their distinctive orange SUV. “The garage was closed and the side door was locked,” the wife said after the 7:30 p.m. theft Saturday. “Not only was it broad daylight -- we were all home,” she said. “They literally had to pick a lock to get into the garage, then had to do a five-point turn to get the car out.” A thief dressed all in black with a “1977” logo on his clothing emerged from an all-black BMW that pulled up to th…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Responders Rescue Man Who Fell Into Trench In Old Tappan Responders Rescue Man Who Fell Into Trench In Old Tappan
Responders Rescue Man Who Fell Into Trench In Old Tappan A passerby was hospitalized with a leg injury after he fell into an open trench Thursday morning in Old Tappan. Borough police were joined by firefighters and members of the Old Tappan First Aid Corps after finding the man, who'd fallen into the nearly 9-foot hole at the site of a massive construction project on Old Tappan Road shortly before 10 a.m. A basket was needed to lift the 250-or-so-pound victim out. A regional rescue call was made and a medical chopper was briefly put on standby, but neither was necessary, responders said. "It's just a guy who fell into a hole," one said. "…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Tributes Mount: 'Gentleman, Class Act' Northern Valley Athletic Director Tom Kaechele Dies Tributes Mount: 'Gentleman, Class Act' Northern Valley Athletic Director Tom Kaechele Dies
Tributes Mount: 'Gentleman, Class Act' Northern Valley Athletic Director Tom Kaechele Dies TRIBUTE: It’s a measure of the man that tributes continued to mount – not just from his own school and district – as news spread of the death of Tom Kaechele. Thomas Kaechele, who was the athletic director at Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, was a gentleman, a class act, someone who cared not just for his players but those of their opponents, as well, those who knew him said. He died Sunday after battling an illness. “The light in Bergen County sports shines a little bit less bright today,” wrote Jim Tolomeo Sr. “[It] lost one of the best ADs in the business plus a fine…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
A Life Full But Too Brief: Beloved NJ Firefighter, IT Whiz, Dies At 57 A Life Full But Too Brief: Beloved NJ Firefighter, IT Whiz, Dies At 57
A Life Full But Too Brief: Beloved NJ Firefighter, IT Whiz, Dies At 57 TRIBUTE: The holiday season at the Emerson Fire Department won't be the same without Mark Brackenbury. Little else in town will be, either. The lifelong firefighter died peacefully at his Jersey Shore home surrounded by loved ones on Sunday, March 13, following a battle with cancer. He was 57. A Queens native, Brackenbury earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken before becoming an accomplished IT director. He began his professional career in 1993 as an IT manager with Health Management Systems in New York before joining Pfizer in 2002. Bracke…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Overnight Fire Severely Damages Norwood Home Overnight Fire Severely Damages Norwood Home
Overnight Fire Severely Damages Norwood Home Flames blew through the roof of a Norwood home near the Rockland County border. Firefighters battled extreme cold and slippery conditions to douse the upper-floor bedroom blaze, which broke out on Broadway just off Piermont Road around 2 a.m. Sunday. No serious injuries were immediately reported. Mutual aid responders either at the scene or in coverage included firefighters from Harrington Park, Closter, Demarest, Northvale and Old Tappan. Firefighters battled extreme cold and icy conditions in the overnight Norwood blaze.Closter FD

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Garage Fire Consumes Tesla, Severely Damages Old Tappan Home, Authorities Say Garage Fire Consumes Tesla, Severely Damages Old Tappan Home, Authorities Say
Garage Fire Consumes Tesla, Severely Damages Old Tappan Home, Authorities Say UPDATE: Used charcoal tossed into a garbage pail ignited a garage fire that ravaged an Old Tappan home near the Rockland border, authorities said. The Greenwoods Road blaze near the Rockland County border "was thought to have started from a charging Tesla, because the homeowner just arrived home and plugged the car in," Police Chief Joseph Tracy said. Responding officers learned that "they had used a charcoal grill the night before to cook dinner," the chief said. The homeowner "removed the coals from the grill and placed them into a plastic bag, then put the bag in a garbage pail in the …

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Quadriplegic Man Bedbound For 19 Hours After Airline Refused To Load $60K Wheelchair Quadriplegic Man Bedbound For 19 Hours After Airline Refused To Load $60K Wheelchair
Quadriplegic Man Bedbound For 19 Hours After Airline Refused To Load $60K Wheelchair A quadriplegic man was bedbound for 19 hours after the airline broke his wheelchair in Boston and then refused to load it onto a plane in Charlotte, NC, he and his New Jersey wife said on social media. Matt Wetherbee, 34, tweeted from a bed during a layover at Charlotte Douglas International Airport that American's crew at Boston Logan International Airport had damaged his chair.  Then, the crew in Charlotte refused to load it onto the plane he was boarding due to a lack of space. After my chair was damaged twice on 2 separate @AmericanAir flights, grounds crew in Charlotte refused to l…

SHARE

by Cecilia Levine
News
Mahwah Man, 20, Struck, Killed On Route 17 Mahwah Man, 20, Struck, Killed On Route 17
Mahwah Man, 20, Struck, Killed On Route 17 A 20-year-old Mahwah man was struck and killed overnight Thursday on Route 17 in Ramsey, authorities confirmed. Erik Eidner had been with a group of people at his home late Wednesday and apparently went out for food sometime after midnight, Ramsey Police Chief Bryan Gurney said. The 2019 Mahwah High School graduate had gotten out of the vehicle and was in the left lane of the northbound highway outside Wendy's, the chief said, when he was struck and killed by what responders said was a tractor-trailer. His body was then run over by a passenger car. What Eidner was doing in the roadway wa…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
Police: Rockland Patron Assaults Old Tappan Restaurant Employee Over Request For Water Police: Rockland Patron Assaults Old Tappan Restaurant Employee Over Request For Water
Police: Rockland Patron Assaults Old Tappan Restaurant Employee Over Request For Water A Rockland man surrendered to police who charged him with beating a worker at a Bergen County Italian restaurant, authorities said. Luca Saggio, 46, of Stony Point asked the passing Bosfa Restaurant employee for water and didn’t like the response, witnesses told responding officers, Old Tappan Police Chief Joseph J. Tracy said. Saggio then “followed the employee into the kitchen of the restaurant and punched him in the head,” Tracy said. The employee suffered “a significant injury to his eye and head area,” the chief said. Responding officers rendered medical aid before an Old Tappan Ambu…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco
News
HEROES: Bergen Mom, Son Rescued From Rising Floodwaters HEROES: Bergen Mom, Son Rescued From Rising Floodwaters
Heroes: Bergen Mom, Son Rescued From Rising Floodwaters Floodwaters had reached the bottom of their SUV's windshield when heroes from Norwood rescued a Demarest woman and her young son during Tuesday's downpour. It was one of several saves throughout the late-afternoon thunderstorms that rocked North Jersey. First, DPW Supt. Robert Tracy grabbed hold of the Mercedes to keep the swollen brook from sweeping it under a Walnut Street bridge, Police Chief Jeffrey Krapels said. Then Police Officer Daniel Sullivan and Detective Perry Duelfer got the mom and her 10-year-old boy out, assisted by Sgt. Sal Russino, the chief said. Both were fine, he sai…

SHARE

by Jerry DeMarco