Elevator gets jammed with patient in cardiac arrest in Saint Mary’s Hospital

PASSAIC — There’s a special heavy equipment unit in the area, a response to the tragedy of 9/11, that stands ready to dig, saw and torch its way into any structure where someone might be trapped.

But sometimes, readiness isn’t enough to prevent death.

Such was the case Saturday night: Firefighters got through metal and wallboard to rescue a large woman trapped in an elevator at St. Mary’s Hospital, but she died the next morning.

It was a harrowing rescue effort, fire officials said. City firefighters responded to a 911 call at 8:39 p.m. of a person in cardiac arrest trapped in an elevator. The elevator was stuck between two floors, and the woman was too large to be pulled through the escape hatch in its ceiling, Passaic Fire Chief Patrick Trentacost said Monday.

When rescuers discovered that they would need to rip through the wall of the elevator shaft to extricate the woman — as well as a doctor and two nurses trapped with her — they called in the special rescue unit run by the Paterson Fire Department.

“Once we exhausted all our tools and equipment … we had to come up with another plan,” Trentacost said.

Six Paterson firefighters appeared with saws and torches. After destroying a bathroom wall on one floor and a surgery room wall on another, they finally extricated the four people at 10:12 p.m.

The Paterson Urban Search and Rescue unit is one of nine such units statewide created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency after 9/11. The units employ special tools, including torches and saws that can cut through thick metal, said Paterson Deputy Fire Chief Joseph A. Murray.

The woman weighed more than 300 pounds, Trentacost said. It took six men to lift her. The woman had suffered a heart attack before entering the elevator. She was being transported from the emergency room to the intensive care unit by the three hospital workers, who administered CPR to the woman while awaiting rescue, the chief said.

The elevator malfunctioned mechanically, he said.

When the woman was finally extracted from the elevator, she was conscious, but died early Sunday morning, said hospital spokeswoman Vanessa Warner.

St. Mary’s Hospital has no building-code violations on file, Trentacost said. A private company inspects the city’s commercial elevators twice a year, and the hospital’s elevators passed those tests, he said. Routinely, the hospital has fixed building-code violations immediately, Trentacost said. He characterized the hospital’s safety record as “very good.”

Trentacost characterized the Saturday night rescue as “very fast” considering the circumstances. Despite the death, the rescue efforts went as well as they could, Murray said.

“The system worked absolutely the way it was supposed to,” he said. NorthJersey.com

Panic turns blaze into inferno

PASSAIC — A candle started a house fire on Howe Avenue over the weekend, but it was the panicky actions of the home’s owner that turned the bedroom blaze into a raging three-alarm inferno, fire officials said Monday.

No one was severely injured in the Saturday night fire that broke out at 182 Howe Ave., but the fire left 20 people homeless and the entire 2 1/2-story house gutted and beyond repair, Fire Chief Patrick Trentacost said.

“It was a total loss,” he said. But no one was severely injured in the fire, officials said.

Fire inspectors also were examining the possibility that the house contained illegal apartments in the basement and attic, Trentacost said, although the fire did not start in those areas. Instead, it is believed that the fire ignited in a first-floor bedroom, Trentacost said.

A woman who lived in the room later told fire inspectors that she left a candle burning that somehow ignited a bedspread. The owner of the house, whose name was not immediately available Monday, but who is related to the woman, tried to extinguish the flames by pulling off the bedspread. In trying to put out the flames, he burned his hand and then fled, leaving doors open along the way. That was the crucial mistake, Trentacost said: “He created a natural chimney for the fire to extend to the second floor.”

Firefighters arrived about 11:20 p.m. to find flames shooting from the front and side windows of the house. Five minutes later, a second alarm was called, followed by a third. Firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control just after midnight, Trentacost said.

Three-car crash likely to cause traffic backup on Route 3

A three-car crash on eastbound Route 3 in Rutherford, just east of Route 21, is likely to backup traffic Thursday morning, police said. No injuries were reported.

The crash occurred shortly before 7 a.m., said police, who did not provide further information.

Motorists should expect traffic to slow as the vehicles are cleared from the roadway, police said.

In Clifton, an earlier rollover accident on Route 3 near the Route 46 merger, which temporarily shut down all westbound traffic around 6 a.m., has been cleared, police said. No injuries were reported in that single-vehicle crash.

— Michael J. Feeney Northjersey.com

Lost police submachine mysteriously turns up

 

Wayne police have found a rapid-fire submachine gun that had been missing for at least two weeks.

But they won’t say exactly where the nine-millimeter weapon turned up on Monday.

It’s still not known who took the MP5 gun, which can shoot 700 to 900 rounds per minute, or how long it was missing from the department’s arsenal.

But the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department is running tests on the weapon to make sure it wasn’t used in any criminal activity.

Meanwhile, Wayne police and county officials are conducting a criminal investigation to determine how the gun went missing.

Explosion kills 1, injures 9 at New Jersey metal casting plant

CARLSTADT, N.J. (AP) — An explosion at a metal casting plant about a mile from Giants Stadium killed one person and injured nine others, three critically.

The accident occurred Tuesday morning at Tec-Cast, an aluminum casting company located in a pocket of industrial plants and warehouses about a mile north of the Meadowlands sports complex. Workers were performing maintenance on an air pressure vat used to cast molten metals into machine parts, police said.

Workers were fixing a door on the approximately 4-foot wide vat shortly after 8 a.m. when it exploded because of air pressure that had built up in the back, said Capt. Franklin Smith of the Carlstadt Police Department.The explosion was heard — and felt — in neighboring buildings along the 300-yard-long cul de sac.

“I heard the explosion,” said Juan Muniz, who was working in an adjacent building about 20 yards away from the Tec-Cast building. “My whole building was shaking. It was scary.”

Mario Gomez, 61, of Jersey City, a maintenance supervisor at the facility, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Gomez was killed when the vat exploded, blowing off the door and scattering pieces of metal that struck him and the other workers.

Seven of the injured workers were taken to area hospitals. It was not clear if the other two declined treatment.

Three of the injured workers were in critical condition at Hackensack University Medical Center Tuesday afternoon, according to hospital spokeswoman Peggy Schunk. Two others remained at the hospital and were in good condition, Schunk said. She did not give specific details on their injuries, citing hospital policy.

Two injured workers were treated and released from Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center, according to hospital spokesman Craig Schmalz. Their injuries ranged from scrapes and bruises to knee and ankle injuries.

Tec-Cast officials did not respond to telephone requests for comment, and workers and company officials left the building without commenting to reporters.

A woman who answered the phone said she was in another building and did not know what was happening.

About 45 employees were in the building at the time of the explosion, Smith said.

Passaic 2 car M.V.A.

 Passaic N.J.—  At about 5:00 Pm  two-vehicle accident on Van Houten Ave and Park Ave sent 2 people to the hospital with head and neck injuries. One of them was a child.

Injuries suffered by both of them involved were not considered serious, and the individuals were taken by E.M.S. to Saint Joes Hospital in Paterson.

 No other details were available Sunday evening.

You Can Save A Life ; Just take a fiew minutes and wipe the Ice/Snow off your car

 

Above is a picture of a car that was smashed from falling ice. Please be considerate for your fellow freinds. Please take the extra fiew minutes to clear snow or ice off your car. Please use caution when driving leave extra time.

It was unseasonably warm last week, but it didn’t keep me from encountering people who sympathized — just barely — with this column’s call to ban the kind of road hazard that we call the Snow and Ice That Fall Twice.

That’s the kind of white junk that leaves the other guy’s car or truck, hits your windshield and makes your whole life flash in front of you. You know the kind:

* The Route 17 kind that killed Ridgewood’s Michael Eastman nearly 12 years ago.

* The Route 287 kind that caused Hawthorne’s Bob and Mary Mahon to chase after the car whose icy load smashed their windshield last year.

* The Route 80 kind that ran Kinnelon’s Tara Varner and her 2-year-old off the road last month.

Shouldn’t New Jersey fine drivers whose vehicles carry snow? Currently, statute 39:4-77.1 makes it illegal only when it causes damage or injury.

Cathy Eastman understands this because the vehicle whose icy load crushed her husband’s skull was long gone by the time police arrived. Tara, Bob, Mary and most of the 2,000 readers who sent me petitions early this year also get it.

But not some folks I’ve encountered. “There are thousands of SUVs, many driven by women,” said Pequannock’s E.L. Quigley. “They can’t clean ice off the tops of their vehicles.”

Ray R. also sympathizes, but:

“Do you have suggestions for clearing … snow from an SUV that’s been out overnight WITHOUT damaging the hood, roof rack or moon roof?” asked the Fair Lawn man. “Pushing snow off is easy, but after past storms, thick solid ice and packed snow didn’t budge after the car’s heater was on for 20 minutes.”

* Run a garden hose over the car with the heater running, but do this for short periods to avoid cracking the windshield.

* Put old cardboard, canvas or a rug over the vehicle before it snows, and yank it off after the storm.

* Run the engine for an hour, long enough to free frozen snow, or at least to help clear it.

Some consider all this unnecessary. One woman, 72, said: “If I can clean my SUV, so can anybody.” Cathy Eastman, who’s 5 feet 1, says she does it. NorthJersey.com And Passaic News.

Car Plunges off Route 21 and falls to the ground upside down;

Passaic New Jersey —Three people escaped death early Sunday morning after the car they were riding in plunged off rt 21 onto a local street , police and fire officials said.The male driver and the two passengers were able to escape from the vehicle before Police and E.M.S arrived.

The accident happened on Rt 21 but the car fell about 15 feet to the ground upside down  near Columbia and Passaic street. According to police, the driver of the car lost control of the vehicle around 1 a.m. The car struck the guard rail, flipped over and took a  tree down and fell to the ground. The rear window of the car popped out, allowing an escape route. Police said the driver and passengers were taken by Hatzolah Of North Jersey And Passaic E.M.S as well as Paramedics from the scene. Their conditions are not known at this time but they were transported to Saint Joes Trauma Center

Passaic New Jersey House Fire

Passaic New Jersey Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire which heavily damaged a 2 story house in the Passaic Park section of Passaic. Police said the two-story house on Main Ave at Rutgers caught fire about 11.45pm (AEST) on Saturday.Residents either side of the home were evacuated and firefighters were able to establish no one was inside the home before extinguishing the fire.

However, the home was heavily damaged.

Several Departments helped out including Wallington and Carlstadt Fire Dept. Also Hatzolah Of North Jersey was on stand by.

Cameras would catch red light violators

 

The Legislature has approved a measure allowing municipalities to place cameras at intersections to photograph cars that run red lights, then issue tickets to their drivers.

Under the bill, a municipality would apply to the state Department of Transportation to test a camera at one or more intersections for a five-year period to determine if it improves traffic safety. The cameras would take high-resolution digital pictures of any cars running red lights. After reviewing a photo to verify there was a violation, police would be able to mail a summons to the owner of the vehicle.

Such cameras are used in more than 300 U.S. communities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “These cameras do save lives,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Joseph Coniglio (D-Bergen).”They do prevent accidents. They do save dollars.”

The Assembly approved the bill today 49-25. When it came up before the Senate, it initially received only 17 votes, but in a second try later this evening it passed 22-1.

The main opposition came from Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) who argued cameras would increase rear end accidents as motorists hit their brakes at yellow lights to avoid being caught in the middle of an intersection. He added, “I don’t want a Big Brother sytstem firing off summonses in the mail. It is not a good public safety issue.” Nj

Police Cracking down on Drunk Driving

As the clock runs out on 2007 tonight, police departments across North Jersey will have additional officers on the streets looking for drivers who got behind the wheel after having one too many.

Police will be on the lookout for the usual telltale signs: erratic driving, slow driving and cars without headlights. Anyone caught driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of 0.08 percent will be arrested, police chiefs said.

“We’ll have Breathalyzer operators on duty,” said Little Ferry Chief Ralph Verdi. “If somebody’s drinking and driving and they come through town, they’re going to get caught and they’re going to get arrested.”

Police chiefs are eager to show they mean business when it comes to drunken-driving enforcement. Of 772 auto accident deaths in New Jersey last year, 341, or 44 percent, were alcohol-related, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2005, alcohol was a factor in 38 percent of New Jersey traffic deaths.

New Jersey lowered the legal blood-alcohol level to 0.08 percent from 0.10 percent in 2004. First-time offenders caught driving with a level over 0.08 but under 0.10 will lose their licenses for three months and pay $250 to $400 in fines. First-time offenders with a blood-alcohol level over 0.10 will lose their licenses for seven months to a year and will be fined $300 to $500.

For the New Jersey State Police, the annual New Year’s drunken-driving crackdown began Friday at 6 p.m., said Sgt. Stephen Jones. In North Jersey, troopers are paying particular attention to the highways that feed the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels, including Routes 80 and 95 and the New Jersey Turnpike, Jones said.

Jones said the state police typically make more drunken-driving arrests around Memorial Day and Labor Day than on New Year’s Eve, perhaps because so much emphasis is placed on enforcement at the end of the year.

“The actual New Year’s Eve night, I think people plan that out a little more in advance,” Jones said. “They’ll plan to stay places overnight or they may take public transportation. There’s generally more forethought.”

Still, police chiefs said they aren’t taking any chances.

In Ridgewood, the enforcement push was scheduled to begin Saturday. Officers planned to do “walk-throughs” in the village’s half-dozen bars and in restaurants that serve liquor, said Chief William Corcoran.

“Our bartenders are keenly aware of their responsibilities,” Corcoran said. “It’s important we walk through the bars. Our mission is to keep the residents and community safe. We don’t need any needless deaths.”

Officials in several departments said they planned to pay overtime for extra officers using money from the state’s Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund. The Division of Highway Traffic Safety, which administers the fund, requires that 50 percent of any grant be used to pay for overtime patrols. The remainder may be used to buy equipment or provide training related to drunken-driving enforcement.

In Lyndhurst, roving patrols will look for drunken drivers, using money from the Drunk Driving Enforcement Fund to cover the overtime, said Chief James B. O’Connor.

The Palisades Interstate Parkway Police plan to station officers along the highway in New Jersey, where both the Rockefeller and Alpine lookouts will be open, officials said.

Woman injured in crash on GSP

CLIFTON — A driver was left with serious leg injuries and traffic was snarled for two hours following a crash on the Garden State Parkway this morning, police said. At about 8:30 Monday morning, Diane Nachbaur, 49, of Woodcliff Lake slammed her car into the guardrail on the northbound Garden State Parkway just before the Exit 155P ramp to Route 19, according to Sgt. Stephen Jones of the state police. He said no other vehicles were involved and that Nachbaur may have fallen asleep at the wheel. Nachbaur was airlifted to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, where she was undergoing surgery, police said. One witness, who didn’t want to be named, said she saw a woman with a mangled leg lying face down in a pool of blood on the highway. “It looked like her leg was torn off,” the witness said. “It was horrifying.” A man and a young girl stood by watching, but it was unclear if they were related to the driver. northjersey.com

Passaic New Jersey Motor Vehicle Accident. Both Cars Everyone Wearing Seat Belts only minor injuries

Passaic New Jersey–Last night at about 6:00 there was a two car accident at the corner of Aycrigg And Pennington. The accident happened after one of the cars ran the stop sign. Hatzolah Of North Jersey transported one patient to Hackensack University Medical Center and the other two Patients refused medical care. One of the cars were totalled. Editor’s Note: Please make sure to wear your seat belt.

Cop killed wasn’t wearing seatbelt

PATERSON — An off-duty police officer who was killed this week when he lost control of his vehicle did not appear to be wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, a state police spokesman said.

Christopher Dotter, a 13-year veteran of the Paterson Police Department, died early Monday after he crashed on Interstate 80 near exit 60. Dotter was traveling at 2:26 a.m. in the right lane when he began to drive off the side of the road, state police said.

It has not been determined if the force of Dotter’s crash caused his seatbelt to come undone, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a department spokesman. It was also unclear if a seatbelt would have saved the 43-year-old officer’s life. NorthJersey.com

Five Car Accident brings out 15 Volunteers from Hatzolah E.M.S.

Passaic New Jersey Five car motor vehicle accident. on the corner of Brook Ave and Passaic Ave in the heart of the Jewish Community. The accident occurred at approximately  1 am early this morning. Hatzolah Of North Jersey E.M.S. was first on scene at the accident. Hatzolah E.M.S. requested Paramedics as well as Fire Department for one aided in the back seat that was trapped in one of the cars. Hatzolah E.M.S transported four patients with paramedics aboard and Passaic E.M.S. transported one patient. All of the 5 patients were transported to Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson. One of the drivers of one of the cars was under 18. Passaic Police and Passaic County Sherrif also on scene. One resident who heard the crash said he heard the accident and he was amazed by the 15 Hatzolah Volunteer’s that responded so quickly. He said, “It’s truly amazing to have such a reliable organization”.

Clifton Police Officer Was Injured When Route 19 Turns Into A Car Skating Rank

Clifton New Jersey- – Clifton Police got several reports at about 6:45 Pm of several cars spinning out of control near the Broad Street exit on Rt 19. The Clifton officers got on scene and advised their dispatcher that they should call the State to come salt the Highway due to the Highway being like an Ice Skating Rank. Moments after the officer advised the dispatcher of the condition of the Highway another passenger car skid right in to one of the Police cruisers. The police officers car was pushed about 30 feet forward all-though their was very little damage to the vehicles. The Officer was taken to Saint Mary’s Hospital in Passaic by Clifton Fire Dept E.M.S. No one else was reported to have any injuries. The Route 19 Highway was closed down by the Passaic County Sherrifs Dept. untill the salt trucks come to salt the Highway and is safe.P.C.J.N was the first to report this story.

New Jersey road crews prepping for Thursday snow storm

TRENTON, N.J. – Road crews around the state were gearing up Wednesday for a winter storm expected to drop as much as 10  inches of snow in northern New Jersey on Thursday.

The National Weather Service was expected to issue a winter storm watch for Warren, Sussex, Morris, Passaic and Bergen counties for Thursday morning through late Thursday night.

Forecasters expect the storm won’t hit until after morning rush hour, with the worst weather coming late Thursday afternoon.

“It looks like northern Jersey is definitely going to be hardest hit with the snow,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Wanton. He said the southern half of the state would mostly see sleet and freezing rain.

State road crews said they were prepared to handle whatever the storm brings.

“We’re in a pretty good situation,” said Joseph Orlando, a spokesman for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which also operates the Parkway.

“All of our equipment is ready to go; it’s not all worn and torn from an entire season of snow,” he said. “We’re pretty much just under full capacity for our salt.”

Alan Hicks, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, said Newark Liberty International Airport was prepared with 500 tons each of salt and sand, as well as thousands of gallons of deicing fluids and snow removal equipment.

Firefighter Injured in Clifton

Clifton N.J. A firefighter was taken to the hospital after he tripped down a flight of stairs and injured himself during a service call Saturday night at a Lakeview section home, a fire official said.At about 7 p.m. Saturday, the fire department was called to 77 E. Second St., to extinguish a mattress fire sparked by a shorted-out electrical outlet, Deputy Chief Leo Loder said.

The firefighter, George Kruckmeyer, was carrying the extinguished mattress down the stairs when he slipped.

Kruckmeyer was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center, where he was treated for injuries to his left leg and released on Saturday night, Deputy Chief Thomas Lyons said on Sunday.

– Ed Beeson and Paul Brubaker

Report: Cops on stakeout stymied by a parking ticket

Bayonne detectives conducting surveillance in an unmarked car were about to spring on their target, cops said, when they were stopped by one pesky little problem: They got a parking ticket.

According to police, parking enforcement officer Susan Wojtkowski issued a summons Friday to detectives in an unmarked car in the midtown area for failing to feed the meter – even after they showed their badges and told her they were on the job.

Cops were staking out the target of a narcotics investigation and began arguing with Wojtkowski after she insisted on giving them a ticket, police said.

While they were arguing, Wojtkowski stood in front of the car and the person they were staking out got away, reports said.

Wojtkowski, 38, of Avenue A, was charged with obstructing a governmental function, police said, and was released on her own recognizance. Nj.com

Passaic woman found dead in apartment

ED BEESON
HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC — The body of Kimberly Santos, 21, was discovered Sunday at about 5:30 p.m., inside her apartment at 87 Broadway, Detective Sgt. Hershel Rawls said. Santos’ roommate discovered her body, he said.

The police have no suspects and, citing the ongoing investigation, they refused to disclose how Santos was killed. But Rawls said Santos probably knew her murderer because there was no sign of forced entry into the apartment.

She was the fourth homicide victim this year in Passaic, police said. The Paramedics had pronounced her dead on scene with Passaic E.M.S on scene

Reyes, who based on the preliminary investigation was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene

CLIFTON — Police have identified the man killed in a head-on collision on Route 46 early Sunday morning as a 19-year-old Passaic resident.

Carlos Reyes of Passaic was in the front passenger seat of a black Acura traveling westbound on Route 46 a little after 4 a.m. Sunday, when the car collided with a beige Nissan Altima that was traveling eastbound in the westbound lane, Lt. John Link of the Clifton Police Department said Monday.

Reyes, who based on the preliminary investigation was not wearing a seatbelt, was pronounced dead at the scene, Link said.

It is unclear why the driver of the Nissan Altima, whom police identify as Leighton Alarcon, 21, of Prospect Park, was traveling in the wrong direction, Link said.

Alarcon, who was also not wearing a seat belt, and the driver of the Acura in which Reyes was a passenger, Lenyn Munoz-Paredes, 24, were both taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson with major head injuries. Munoz-Paredes was wearing a seat belt, Link said.

“We are still investigating aspects such as the cause, where they were going, where they were coming from,” Link said.

Clifton New Jersey Another life is taken on Rt-21

Clifton New Jersey There was a fatal accident this morning at about 4:05 am on Rt-21 South by Rt-46 and Rt-20 when a car was driving down Rt-21 a 3 lane 55 mph highway the wrong way and hit a oncoming car at high speeds. The crash had 2 people in 1 car and 1 in the other the accident took the life of 1 left 1 in likely to expire condition 1 in critical condition. At the time of the accident Clifton F.D. had no Ambulances available so they sent 4 fire trucks all of Clifton’s Fire Fighter’s are E.M.T. Garfield E.M.S. Passaic E.M.S. Nutley E.M.S and Hatzolah E.M.S. all were on scene 2 Pt were xported to Saint Joes Trauma Center in Paterson with Paramedics aboard. The Highway is expected to be closed for most of the day for the investigation.

You heard this story first on Passainews.wordpress.com

Passaic cops defend use of force

PASSAIC – The Passaic County prosecutor said the police shooting of an unarmed city woman “appears to be justified” after she used her car to ram police vehicles and strike an officer during a low-speed chase.

Michele M. Moleti, 34, who was hit by six of the estimated 20 bullets that police fired into her mother’s 1999 Nissan Altima, remained under armed guard Thursday at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson. Her condition was listed as “guarded,” less dire than “serious,” police said.

It was unclear Thursday precisely why Moleti, a former Clifton High School softball star who has had recent run-ins with the law, led police on a slow pursuit through Clifton and into Passaic. That pursuit ended in what was the third shooting involving Clifton police this year.

Residents of the neighborhood near Clifton’s Weasel Brook Park said that they had noticed an unfamiliar car parked in front a fire hydrant on Clinton Avenue as early as 4 p.m. Wednesday. Shortly after 9:20 p.m., Clifton police responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle parked in front of 204 Clinton Ave.

Two patrol cars approached and boxed in the car with Moleti in it. Officers got out and saw Moleti asleep at the wheel, said Passaic County Prosecutor James Avigliano in a news conference Thursday. The officers attempted to wake her. When she did not respond, they tried opening her door with a Slim Jim, a police-issued lock-picking device.

Moleti stirred and locked the door. The officers tried to unlock the door again, but Moleti pushed the button down again.

At some point, she started her car and tried to pull out, smacking the patrol cars behind and in front of her. Police said one of the officers was hit as she was trying to get out. Neighbors on Clinton Avenue said they watched Moleti barely miss hitting an officer as she struck the car and tried to drive off.

The police jumped in their cruisers and started to follow her. One pulled in front of Moleti after she turned on Westervelt Avenue, but she kept driving. They proceeded to make two circuits around a wedge-shaped block bounded by Clinton, Westervelt and De Mott avenues.

“It was like Keystone Kops,” said Michael David, a 64-year-old resident, who ran outside after hearing the commotion on his quiet street.

Meanwhile, neighbors said, a firetruck and an off-duty probation officer living on Clinton Avenue joined the chase. They sped after Moleti after she took off on De Mott Avenue.

The chase continued through local roads and then onto the southbound lanes of Route 21, Avigliano said. Moleti exited in Passaic, where a pair of Clifton narcotics detectives stationed themselves to join the pursuit. The officers notified Passaic police and the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, who left the pursuit in Clifton’s hands, Clifton police Capt. Robert Rowan said.

Police used their vehicles to box Moleti in at the intersection of Gregory and Main avenues.

The officers stepped out of their cars and approached Moleti. But she allegedly rammed one of the vehicles and hit one of the narcotics detectives. The officers drew their service weapons and fired into the car. Avigliano said as many as 20 shots were fired at Moleti.

Six bullets pierced her neck, chest and arm. But she did not stop. Police followed her as she drove away. She drove to Lafayette Avenue, turned into a driveway and came to a stop. Police wrestled her out of the vehicle.

Twenty minutes after it started, the chase ended about one block away from the apartment on Boulevard that Moleti shares with her mother.

“I’m just as baffled as everybody else right now that this happened, and I haven’t gotten any answers from the police yet,” her mother, Rose Moleti, told WABC-TV in New York.

Avigliano, whose office is leading the investigation of the shooting, would not release the names of the four Clifton police officers involved. They remain on duty, said Chief Robert Ferreri. Detective Capt. Robert Rowan said all four men are veterans of the force. Two of the officers were treated and released from St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center on Wednesday night, one for a hand injury and one for a leg injury, authorities said.

Avigliano would not comment when asked if Moleti was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the pursuit.

He said at minimum, she’ll be charged with eluding police, attempt to commit aggravated assault or homicide and resisting arrest.

“Police cannot use deadly force unless their life is in danger,” Avigliano said.

The prosecutor said his shooting unit will investigate to determine whether police acted justifiably. In June, Clifton police shot Garfield resident John Kubasta six times after he drove away from a traffic stop and led police on a chase. In April, police shot Aleksander Malek after he wielded a machete and a pipe. Both men survived the shootings.

Terence Persaud, an emergency medical technician who lives at the Lafayette Avenue home where Moleti stopped, said he awoke to find his yard full of uniformed and plainclothes police officers. He saw Moleti on the ground, her hair shaking wildly as police circled her.

“She was yelling and screaming with the cops,” said Persaud, 40. “They were trying to calm her down.”

His neighbors described hearing the pops of gunfire shortly before Moleti’s car and the police behind her descended on the avenue. On Thursday afternoon, evidence of the struggle remained, with shattered glass lying in Persaud’s driveway. Surgeon’s gloves and a dozen alcohol packets littered Lafayette Avenue.

Jeffrey Meano, who said he and Moleti dated for seven years, said family tragedies have haunted her. Her father, Ronald, died during her junior year of high school. Her brother, Mark, died last year at age 35. Illnesses took other family members and her own dreams of becoming a teacher were frequently frustrated.

“She wasn’t a dangerous person. She was a person who was depressed,” Meano said. “Every time she turned around, she was getting hit.”

Moleti was once a standout high school softball player. Meano said she went to Rutgers on an athletic scholarship before transferring to Montclair State. Recently, she found herself in trouble with police, getting arrested three times in a year and a half.

Edgewater police arrested her in June 2006 on charges of cocaine possession. In December of last year, Cliffside Park police charged her with theft after she was allegedly caught on surveillance video stealing $280 in cash from The Club House Cafe, where she worked as a bartender, Capt. Michael Russo said.

Earlier this year, Nutley police arrested her for making a terroristic threat, a charge that was later downgraded to harassment, said Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

All three cases are pending.

“She was no crazy person, no convict,” Meano said. “Just a normal kid who has had some bad turns and was in a cloudy place.”

–Staff writers Heather Haddon, Suzanne Travers and the Associated Press, NorthJersey.com

Passaic N.J. Car accident

Their was a car accident at about 6:20 Pm tonight on the corner of Main Ave and Brook Hatzolah, Police and Fire  all on scene.Air bags had deployed but no major injuries reported.

Woman shot in Passaic after police chase by Clifton Police

PASSAIC-Clifton police shot an unidentified woman last night in Passaic after she led them on a chase and tried to run down officers, authorities said.

Details were sketchy, but the woman was shot on Lafayette Avenue in the city of Passaic at about 9:30 p.m., according to Lt. Paul Haertel of the Clifton police. He said police do not know the woman’s name, age or address.

The woman was alert and conscious when she was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, the lieutenant said. Her condition was not immediately known.

The incident began in the 200 block of Clinton Avenue when Clifton police officers approached the woman, who appeared to be crying and slumped over the wheel of a car, the lieutenant said. But the woman sped off.

Officers gave chase, and the pursuit ended in Passaic when, Haertel said, the woman tried to run over several officers and police fired upon her.

It was not immediately clear which officers were involved or how many shots were fired.

The woman did not fire, and the car she was in was not stolen, the lieutenant said. Nj.com

Houston-Driver Passes Test, Then Hits Building

AP-A student driver passed his test Monday, then crashed the car into the Texas Department of Public Safety building. No one was hurt.

The man was parking the car when the vehicle went over the curb and hit a wall of the brick building, creating a small hole, DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said.

The driving examiner was not in the car, Vinger said. 1010wins.com

Passaic man injured by falling tree

By DENISA R. SUPERVILLE and MEREDITH MANDELL
HERALD NEWS

PASSAIC — A rabbi didn’t think twice about interrupting prayer to rush to help a man struck on Katherine Avenue Monday by branches of a fallen 40-foot tree.

“I don’t understand why people shouldn’t help another human being,” Rabbi Yehoshua Kaganoff said. He was praying in a home on Katherine Avenue shortly after 2 p.m. when the tree came crashing down.

“I don’t understand that. I really don’t,” he said. “If a person is hurt, why shouldn’t we help them? It’s beyond me that someone should just walk away.”

The injured man, whom police identified as Thomas Painter, 59, suffered a dislocated left shoulder and a cut to the back of the head, according to Detective Andrew White of the Passaic Police Department. Painter, who was conscious at the scene, was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital and listed in stable condition, White said Monday.

Police said Painter was standing outside of his silver 2003 Toyota Camry when he was struck by one of the tree’s branches. The car sustained extensive damage to the rear windshield, and part of the roof caved in as a result.

Kaganoff, who worked as an ambulance technician in New York City about 20 years ago, and others inside the house rushed to the street thinking that a car or house had been damaged by the fallen tree. Then Kaganoff noticed Painter and the blood on the street, he said.

“When I saw the guy, I thought the worst,” said Yehuda de Sa, a rabbinical student who saw the tree fall while he was praying. “It was a huge tree. The guy was really, really fortunate.”

Kaganoff used his medical training to assist Painter until emergency medical technicians arrived, he said, adding that he stabilized Painter’s head wound. Another neighbor, Sharone Perlman, said she heard a loud “earth-shattering boom” while sitting at her computer.

“It was very terrifying,” said Perlman, who dialed 911.

Later, de Sa said, Perlman brought blankets and a pillow to keep Painter warm and comfortable. Kaganoff asked de Sa to go inside the house to fetch a first aid kit.

The accident involving Painter came as the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for much of the tri-state area, including Passaic County and North Jersey. The advisory was expected to continue until 7 a.m. Tuesday. Advisories are issued when sustained winds of between 31 and 39 miles per hour or gusts of more than 45 miles per hour are possible, according to the National Weather Service.

These winds are “certainly strong enough to tear down some tree limbs, certainly strong enough to blow around some lightweight and loose objects like garbage lids,” Gary Conte a National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y.

Although the winds are expected to subside on Tuesday, it will still be a windy day, Conte said.

High winds can fell trees and down power lines, which could result in injury and even death. Driving also becomes dangerous, especially for trucks and other large vehicles, authorities say.

Brooklyn N.Y. Hatzolah Ambulance Involved In A Motor Vehicle Crash

Brooklyn N.Y. A Hatzolah ambulance while responding to a Cardiac Arrest was just involved in a Motor Vehicle Crash in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn,on 14th Avenue . There are injuries reported at this time. Multiple Hatzolah  Ambulances and multiple units  are responding to the scene at this time .

77 police officers hurt in Paris riots

AP VILLIERS-LE-BEL, France – Rampaging youths rioted overnight in Paris’ suburbs, hurling Molotov cocktails and setting fire to dozens of cars. At least 77 officers were injured and officers were fired at, a senior police union official said Tuesday.The violence was more intense than during three weeks of rioting in 2005, said the official, Patrice Ribeiro. Police were shot at and are facing “genuine urban guerillas with conventional weapons and hunting weapons,” Ribeiro said.

Some officers were hit by shotgun pellets, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said. She said there were six serious injuries, “people who notably were struck in the face and close to the eyes.”

The riots were triggered by the deaths of two teens killed in a crash with a police patrol car on Sunday in Villiers-le-Bel, a town of public housing blocks home to a mix of Arab, black and white residents in Paris’ northern suburbs.

Residents claimed that officers left the crash scene without helping the teens, whose motorbike collided with the car. Officials cast doubt on the claim, but the internal police oversight agency was investigating.

Youths first rioted Sunday and again overnight Monday to Tuesday, when the violence apparently got worse.

Police barricades were set on fire and youths threw stones and Molotov cocktails at officers, who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets. In Villiers-le-Bel and surrounding areas, youths set fire to 36 vehicles, the area’s prefecture said.

Youths were seen firing buckshot at police and reporters. A police union official said a round from a hunting rifle pierced the body armor of one officer who suffered a serious shoulder wound.

Among the buildings targeted by the youths was a library, which was set afire.

In Sunday’s violence, eight people were arrested and 20 police officers were injured — including the town’s police chief, who was attacked in the face when he tried to negotiate with the rioters, police said. One firefighter also was injured.

Residents drew parallels to the 2005 riots, which were prompted by the deaths of two teens electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police in a suburb northeast of Paris.

A recent study by the state auditor’s office indicated that money poured into poor French suburbs in recent decades had done little to solve problems vividly exposed by the 2005 riots, including discrimination, unemployment and alienation from mainstream society.

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Girl, 13, run over by school bus and killed

HAMILTON, N.J. (AP) — A 13-year-old was killed Wednesday when she was run over by a school bus after engaging in what authorities called horseplay with friends.

The girl, identified as Bryelle Dean, had just stepped off her bus from Crockett Middle School in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, at about 1 p.m. when she was crushed under the bus’ rear wheels.

Bus driver Jean Louis, 48, stopped the bus after he felt something and the students who had just gotten off screamed at him to stop.