Breaking News:::: Major Gas Main Was Just Busted

Passaic N.J. Major gas main was just busted by a construction company at the corner of Main Avenue and Highland Avenue. The gas leak is reported in the new school. Multiple agencies are responding at this time. Passaic Fire is requesting P.S.E & G on a rush. Main Avenue is being blocked off by the Passaic Police at this time expect major delays in the area. Homes are being evacuated in the area.

Update– 2:45 Passaic Fire evacuating all Highland Avenue residents in the area. Clifton Police requested to block off Main Avenue in Clifton.

Update–2:49 Passaic Fire loads the fire hoses as a precautionary measure. Additional Fire trucks arrive on scene to help with evacuations. Construction company is shutting down all of their generators in the area.

Update–2:50 P.S.E & G representative on location at this time, P.S.E & G rep awaiting the gas shut off team.

Update–2:55 Passaic Police reaching out to the Passaic County Sheriff Department for more officers to block off streets in the area.

Update–2:57 P.S.E & G Gas shut off team on location and attempting to shut off the gas main on Main Avenue and Highland.

Update–3:09 As per Passaic Police and Passaic Fire all units will be leaving the scene within 15 minutes. P.S.E & G shut off the gas at this time.

P.B.J.N Staff on behalf of the residents of the City Of Passaic would like to thank the Passaic Police department and the Passaic Fire department for keeping us safe and protected.

P.B.J.N Exclusive Report

Thieves Target Chase Bank Customers

Passaic, NJ- Many of us rely heavily on modern technology, to operate within our daily lives. A new scam targeting users of Chase Bank “Text Alerts”, has some Chase customers worried.

Chase Bank offers their customers the option of receiving banking alerts to their cellular phones via text messages. Alerts contain information such as bank withdrawals, bank deposits, and the such.

The Scam: Customers have been receiving text messages stating that due to security implications, their account has temporarily been suspended. In the text message it has the number for Chase, so you can call and reactivate your account. The number which is listed, does not belong to Chase Bank.

When you call the number, a “customer representative” asks you for several forms of identification, to prove its you are the account holder. Once this information has been given, identity theft scamers now have access to your bank account, as well as several other options.

If you think you’ve become a victim of identity theft or fraud, act immediately to minimize the damage to your personal funds and financial accounts, as well as your reputation. Here’s a list  of some actions that you should take right away:

1. Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to report the situation ( http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/ )
2. By telephone toll-free at 1-877-ID THEFT (877-438-4338) or TDD at 202-326-2502, or
3. By mail to Consumer Response Center, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.

You may also need to contact other agencies for other types of identity theft:

1. Your local office of the Postal Inspection Service if you suspect that an identity thief has submitted a change-of-address form with the Post Office to redirect your mail, or has used the mail to commit frauds involving your identity;( https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/ )
2. The Social Security Administration if you suspect that your Social Security number is being fraudulently used (call 800-269-0271 to report the fraud); ( http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10064.html )
3. The Internal Revenue Service if you suspect the improper use of identification information in connection with tax violations (call 1-800-829-0433 to report the violations).( http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=186436,00.html )

(News Source: PCJN Exclusive)

Pedestrian Struck This Afternoon

Passaic Park– A pedestrian crossing the street, was struck by an auto at 6:40 PM tonight. The pedestrian was at the the intersection of  Van Houten Ave and Waverly Place. Passaic police department, E.M.S, the Fire department, as well as Hatzolah EMS were all on scene. The patient was transported to the hospital by Passaic Fire EMS in stable condition.

Tree falls on house on reid avenue

At approximately 12:40 this afternoon Passaic fire department as well as the Passaic police department responded to 36 reid avenue for a tree that fell into a house. No reports of injuries at this time.

Torres: ‘We need … to police the police’

PATERSON — At a special City Council meeting tonight, Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres will discuss plans to bring in two outside consulting firms to conduct a top-to-bottom audit of the city police department.

Two years after a blue ribbon panel issued its report on the department, Torres hopes to hire the International City/County Management Association and the International Association of Chiefs of Police to review city police affairs.

Torres believes the consultants can find ways to use auxiliary officers for routine police duties and reduce expenses at the department, which accounts for more than a quarter of the city’s budget.

He wants the organizations to recommend ways to shorten police response times and create better ties to the community. The department needs more accountability and defined performance benchmarks, especially since the city has invested millions of dollars in new police technologies, Torres said.

“We need someone to police the police,” he said. Northjersey.com

Troopers, First Responders Struck By Police Cruisers On I-80 Due To Ice At Accident scene.

A chain-reaction accident involving six vehicles on an icy stretch of Route 80 eastbound near Exit 12 in Hope Township sent 11 people, including four State Troopers, to the hospital with injuries and shut the highway for several hours this morning.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening and all lanes were reopened by noon, said Sgt. Stephen Jones, a State Police spokesman. Cleanup of the crash continued this afternoon on the shoulder due a spill of about 300 gallons on diesel fuel a tractor trailer, Jones said.Robert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerA New Jersey State Police car hit by a tractor trailer truck is removed for the scene in Hope Township.
Two State Police cruisers and a Hope Township fire truck were stopped on the side of Route 80 eastbound responding to a one-car accident involving a driver who skidded off the road from black ice, Jones said. As they were tending to the injured driver, Floyd Berger Jr. of Mt. Bethel, Pa., another car lost control on the ice, Jones said.

A pickup truck being driven by Olando Ramos, of East Stroudsburg, Pa., slid out of control and hit a tractor trailer being driven by Francis Goodrich, of West Virginia, Jones said. The tractor trailer jack-knifed and slammed into the parked emergency vehicles on the side of the road, Jones said.

The chain-reaction accident sent the two police cruisers into the crowd of four State Troopers, three firefighters and three EMTs who had responded to the initial accident, Jones said. Several of the emergency responders were struck, Jones said. Berger, the driver who originally skidded off the road, sustained additional injuries in the second crash, Jones said.

“Fortunately, none of the injuries seems serious,” said Jones. “All vehicles involved received moderate to significant damage and were towed. The troopers’ vehicles were totaled.”

All 11 people injured were taken to Hackettstown Regional Medical Center. The four State Police troopers injured were Richard Mandragon, Louis Crisafulli, Tara Cumbo and James Hamill, all of the Hope Township barracks, Jones said. The names of the injured emergency responders were not immediately available, Jones said. NJ.com

Morning misery on Route 21

PASSAIC — A three-car accident Thursday morning caused a tractor-trailer to jackknife and shut down Route 21 south and sent one man to the hospital, police said.

The crash took place around 6:30 a.m. just past Exit 10B to River Drive.

Passaic police Detective Andy White described the accident this way: Rafael Perez, 49, of Clifton was driving a Honda Pilot in the middle lane of the highway when he entered the left lane, where Hawthorne resident Michael Alberta, 26, was driving a Ford Explorer.

The Honda caused Alberta to lose control of his car, White said, which led Perez to swerve and hit the guardrail. Perez’s Honda then spun out into the right lane of the highway, where Melesio Garcia, 39, of Clifton was driving a tractor-trailer.

Garcia swerved to avoid hitting the Honda, and in doing so lost control of the vehicle. The tractor-trailer spun into the left lane and jackknifed on the median.

Perez was taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Paterson with non-life-threatening injuries, White said.

Passaic police shut down parts of Route 21 south for nearly three hours and diverted all traffic on the northbound side of the highway off at the Passaic Park exit.

Police reopened the highway around 9:30 a.m. Myheraldnews.com

Police subdue man with two machetes and Police Officer in Passaic gets hit.

A police officer convinced a man waving two machetes to put both weapons down and surrender following a brief chase, authorities said today.

“These officers did an outstanding job — they showed a lot of restraint,”  said West Milford Police Chief Paul Costello.

Police received a call around 7:30 last night from a family member who said Erich Bujese, 43, of Otterhole Road, was threatening to harm himself and other family members.

Costello said his department alerted nearby towns and Bujese’s 1997 Ford Ranger pickup was spotted heading toward West Milford by Greenwood Lake, N.Y., police.

West Milford Officer Jill Brickman tried to pull Bujese over on Lakeside Road, but he kept driving toward Ringwood, police said.

Officers pursued Bujese until he pulled into a boat launch area for Monksville Reservoir and got out of the truck holding both machetes, each with an 18-inch blade.

“Officer Joseph Nevin was able to persuade Mr. Bujese to put down the machetes and hand over his driver’s license,” Costello said. “When he put down the machetes to get his license, he was subdued by the officers.”

Bujese was brought to St. Mary’s Hospital in Passaic for observation.

There, Costello reported, Bujese took a swing at and hit Officer Greg Post Jr., who didn’t require treatment.

Bujese is charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, driving under the influence, eluding police officers, menacing and threatening a police officer, resisting arrest, and a list of motor vehicle infractions. He is being held at the Passaic County Jail on $50,000 bail.

NJ Attorney General ticketed for speeding

TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey‘s top law enforcement officer will soon have a blemish on her driving record.

Attorney General Anne Milgram was ticketed for speeding Friday.

Milgram was driving her 1994 Honda Accord on Route 1 South when she was clocked at 69 mph in a 50 mph zone. She was pulled over in North Brunswick.

Milgram said she plans to pay the $176 fine. She’ll also receive four points against her license. “I made a mistake and know what I did was wrong. I take responsibility for driving too fast,” she said in a statement issued by her office.

Milgram was the first assistant attorney general when former Attorney General Zulima Farber was forced from office after six months on the job amid a ticket scandal involving Farber’s boyfriend.

Farber, who resigned in August 2006, showed up at the scene after her longtime boyfriend was pulled over for failing to wear a seat belt and ticketed for having a suspended license and driving an improperly registered vehicle.

A special prosecutor found that Farber didn’t commit a crime by going to the scene, but she was found to have violated ethics provisions barring state officials from accepting favors because of their position. Farber resigned the day the report was issued.

Farber herself had 12 speeding tickets, four bench warrants issued for her after she failed to show up for court appearances and three license suspensions.

The Attorney General’s Office said this is Milgram’s first speeding ticket. Newsday.com

New York – Israeli IDF Vets Train NY Jewish Paramilitaries In Catskills

New York – Yonatan Stern, the “Sgan Mefaked Hakita” (deputy squad commander) of Kitat Konenut New York, insists his “paramilitary emergency armed response team” is no “group of vigilantes or a JDL “The goal of the organization is to have a competent and professional group of armed volunteers ready to respond to a threat at a moment’s notice in any area where Jews reside,” explains the Israeli combat veteran.“We do not carry out demonstrations or political activity of any kind as we have no political agenda. Our agenda is to protect Jews wherever and whenever necessary and by any means needed.”

On Friday, the third session of the group’s training camp will begin in the Catskills woodlands of upstate New York, on land belonging to a Jewish supporter of the organization. With tuition at $400, the group expects 15 participants and five instructors for the 10 days of training. Participation has doubled since the group began three years ago.

Kitat Konenut New York is modeled on the rapid response teams in the West Bank settlements that are often the first to act when terrorist attacks or other emergencies take place. The group bills itself as religious-Zionist but nonpolitical.

American Jews have “felt a false sense of security in the United States,” Stern believes, “because historically there has been less anti-Semitism than in other countries. But there have been incidents – neo-Nazi terrorist attacks, Arab terrorist attacks. Jews have to be vigilant.”

“The threat is not from the American people or government,” he adds, but from “terrorist sleeper cells that want to target Jews. These people are very dangerous and the FBI issues warnings against them very often,” he said, citing the FBI’s warning, after the killing of Hizbullah operations chief Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in February, that the Lebanese group might carry out terror attacks on Jewish communities.

“The average American is friendly to Jews, but we’re worried about those individuals on the periphery of society,” Stern says.

 

The group was founded in the summer of 2006 in response to the shooting attack at the Jewish federation of Seattle premises by local Muslim Naveed Haq.

 

“We realized there is a need for this kind of organization, and as Israeli combat veterans living in the US, we have the skills and ability to respond to this,” Stern says.

The group’s MySpace page details the camp’s regimen, which includes training in the IDF’s Krav Maga martial art, use of non-lethal weapons and identification of suspicious objects, but also sharpshooter and assault rifle training, infantry exercises and endurance marches. Explanatory literature lists a large number of weapons with which participants can expect to train.

“We believe all Jews in the US must be legally armed and trained,” Stern says, “and towards this goal we hold paramilitary training camps to train and equip Jewish American youth.”

The group’s literature notes emphatically that all firearms used in training “are 100% legal and in compliance with all federal, state and local laws.”

“We strongly believe in the constitutional right to bear arms and we express this right to its fullest,” it adds.

The group claims to be “well-connected with the New York police and fire departments” and it invites “all members of the law enforcement community to join in our life-saving activities.”

Stern says, “We are all legally armed and carry radios and cellphones” during all hours of the day, and even on Shabbat, “as we need to be constantly ready to respond to any incident.”

The camp literature also promises discussions on Torah and Halacha, understanding and confronting terrorism, fighting anti-Semitism, the history of the Zionist movement in the Land of Israel, and encouraging participants to “know your rights and learn how every American can and must be legally armed and how to express the Second Amendment” – the right to bear arms.

 Funded by tuition money and a handful of private donors, the group does not exclude secular Jews, Stern says, but asks that they respect the Orthodox nature of the camp by observing Shabbat in public and refraining from bringing non-kosher food.

“We wouldn’t have a problem with non-Jews coming either,” says Stern, “but no non-Jew has applied thus far. Vinnews.com

Vehicle rear-ends jitney bus, injuring 7

PASSAIC – Seven people were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, after a car rear-ended a jitney bus on Friday, police said.

At 3:16 p.m., Jorge Lesmes Jr., 23, of Bloomfield was driving a two-door Acura on River Drive at Elliot Street, when he hit a jitney carrying 16 people plus the driver, said police Detective Andy White.

Lesmes was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson with facial injuries. The jitney driver, Gil Abreu, 51, of New York, was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital, along with five of his passengers.

The jitney bus had been headed to Union City, then New York, White said.

According to jitney passenger Priyank Rana of Passaic, the jitney was parked at a bus stop on River Drive when the accident occurred. Rana’s friend, Badal Rana, was among those injured. Northjersey.com

Passaic Police Harass The Jewish Community On Friday Afternoon’s

Attention all Passaic resident’s

           It has been brought to our attention that at least the last 2 Friday afternoons the Passaic Police Dept has been out full force on Brook Ave and Main Ave. They have set up a check point with approximately 10 police officer’s. As our PCJN reporter passed by there were 4 cars pulled over all of whom were Orthodox Jews. We at PCJN are going to try to contact the Passaic Police Dept. for comment. And the Acting Mayor Gary Schaer.

Passaic woman charged after leaving tot in SUV

A 33-year-old Passaic woman was charged with endangering the welfare of a child yesterday after she accidentally left a toddler inside her SUV for about three hours in Clifton, police said.

The 2-year-old boy, also of Passaic, was not breathing and had al most no pulse when she finally no ticed him and got help, but the toddler was expected to fully recover, Clifton Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken said last night.

Meira Lebovitz spent part of the day carpooling six children, including several of her own. Later, after dropping off five of the children, she stopped at the Home Depot in Clifton at about 2 p.m., not realizing the 2-year-old was still asleep in the back, the detective said.

While in the store parking lot on Bloomfield Avenue, Lebovitz suddenly noticed she had forgotten to drop off one child, who had fallen asleep in the rear of her Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle, Bracken said. Lebovitz, a friend of the boy’s family, rushed the child into the store, the detective said.

The child was dehydrated, had a temperature of 102.6 degrees Fahrenheit, was not breathing and did not have a noticeable pulse, Bracken said. The boy ap peared to have advanced heat stroke, he said.

Two customers in the store began cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the child as they waited for emergency rescue crews, according to the detective. Nj.com

Gary Schaer becomes acting Mayor and keep’s 3 other job’s

Passaic City Council President/Acting Mayor Gary S. Schaer released a statement today in the aftermath of Mayor Samuel Rivera’s departure from office. Rivera re signed at 5 p.m. after earlier in the day pleading guilty to extortion in federal court.

“This is a difficult time for Passaic,” said Schaer. “I am committed, along with my city council colleagues, to restoring confidence to the residents of Passaic and assuring them that the services provided by our municipal government will continue as normal.

“The hard-working residents of Passaic deserve a municipal government that is honest and trustworthy,” he added. “…While I did not seek this position, my role as Council President statutorily requires this service.” Schaer, who said he would receive no additional compensation or benefits as acting mayor, announced that he will be sworn-in during a “private ceremony” performed by the city clerk. He has scheduled a meeting of the city’s department directors for Monday morning. “Together, we will move forward and continue to improve the quality of life for everyone who lives in our great city,” Schaer said.

Mayor to plead guilty of corruption

(You first heard it yesterday, here on PCJN!)

PASSAIC — Mayor Samuel Rivera was expected to be in Trenton today, pleading guilty to federal corruption charges. But on Thursday, he was in City Hall as streams of well-wishers said their goodbyes.

Men and women stood in a line outside his office, crying. Even the mayor’s hefty bodyguard, Passaic police Detective Lucho Candelaria, was a little misty.

“He’s leaving, and we’re never going to see him again,” said the mayor’s secretary, Angely Ramirez, who wiped her eyes with tissues.

“It’s just sad for the people who knew him well,” Ramirez said between sniffles. “He helped a lot of people.”

Rivera, a former police detective who built his reputation on being tough on crime and cleaning up the streets, is expected to plead to a two-count indictment alleging he accepted a $5,000 bribe and the promise of another $50,000, in exchange for lucrative insurance contracts with the city. Rivera’s plea hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in Trenton.

In an interview Thursday evening with Univision 41, a Spanish-language news channel, Rivera sat down with a reporter and said in Spanish, “I have to resign.”

Julio Luciano, the mayor’s assistant, carried cardboard boxes out of the office. Later, he stood on the steps of City Hall, smoking a cigarette and shaking his head.

“He gave a lot of people jobs and helped a lot of police,” Luciano said. “The people that don’t like him are going to see: Passaic is going to be bad. Without him, there will be a lot of gangs and dirty streets.”

Ramirez said Rivera would not see reporters in his office: “He’s not in a good mood right now,” she said.

Then, about noontime, Rivera emerged from his office. A group of employees surrounded him as he made his way out of City Hall. He shook their hands and embraced them.

When asked whether he had resigned, he simply shook his head and said, “No.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said, offering a handshake. If convicted, Rivera faces up to 30 years in prison on both offenses as well as up to $250,000 in fines on each.

Under state law, once Rivera pleads guilty, he must resign.

Rivera, along with former Councilmen Jonathan Soto and Marcellus Jackson, was accused of taking bribes from undercover FBI agents in exchange for working to get public contracts for a fake insurance company, called Coastal Solutions LLC. The officials were arrested in September as part of a statewide FBI sting dubbed “Operation Broken Boards.”

Jackson pleaded guilty in December and resigned from the council in January. Soto awaits trial.

Neither prosecutors nor Rivera’s attorney, Henry Klingeman, would comment on whether a plea agreement had been struck.

Thus far, all but five public officials have pleaded guilty to being part of the scheme. Among them are former state Assemblyman Alfred Steele, D-Paterson; Jackson, of the Passaic City Council, Pleasantville school board members Rafael Velez, Jayson Adams and James Pressley, and Pleasantville Councilman Peter Callaway. All await sentencing. NorthJersey.com

New Jersey Trooper injured helping accident victim

State police say a trooper severed an artery helping a man get out of his truck after an accident off Route 80 in Allamuchy Township.

Sgt. Stephen Jones says Trooper Cesar Garces pulled into a rest area after a pick-up slammed into the back of a tractor-trailer around 2 a.m. today.

Jones says Garces used a flashlight to break the window of the pick-up truck so the driver could get out. The trooper sliced his wrist, severing the artery.

Garces and the driver, Paul Villano, were airlifted to Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Garces underwent surgery and was released. Villano, whose condition isn’t known, is charged with driving while intoxicated. NJ.COM

‘Tribal’ tension in Crown Heights keeps neighborhood from moving beyond hate

Nearly 17 years after riots tore Crown Heights apart, the recent beating of a black college student by Jewish assailants has exposed rising tensions between blacks and Jews in my neighborhood.

Cops and city officials have quietly gone on high alert, worried that another riot could be in the works.

The troubles began on April 14, when Andrew Charles, a 20-year-old sophomore at Kingsborough Community College, says he and a friend encountered a pair of young Jewish men while walking down Albany Ave. about 6 p.m.

“One was on bike, one was on foot. They were staring at us, staring us down,” Charles told me. “We stared back. They approached us and asked if we had a problem.”

The man on the bike sprayed Charles with tear gas, and a few minutes later a contingent of Jewish men arrived by car and in scooters and began chasing them.

One man beat Charles on the back and arm with a nightstick, inflicting injuries that sent him to the hospital. The group fled, but not before a witness on the street got the license plate number.

In any other neighborhood, a staredown between young men, even one that turns into a beatdown, would barely count as major news.

But this is Crown Heights, where a smoldering pile of intergroup grievances and injustices – some real, many imaginary – set the stage for the shocking outburst of mob violence in August 1991.

According to a memo circulated by Mayor Bloomberg’s Community Assistance Unit, city officials immediately descended on Crown Heights last week to establish “contact with the [Charles] family before outside agitators could jump in and reach out to the family to create community turmoil.”

I don’t know which “outside agitators” the mayor’s people were afraid of, but community activist Taharka Robinson, founder of the Central Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition, is acting as Charles’ adviser. The family also has retained Paul Wooten, a well-known Brooklyn lawyer recently nominated for a Supreme Court judgeship.

Robinson and Wooten are reliable, levelheaded men. They will have their work cut out for them.

At the urging of city officials, a group of leaders from both communities will meet tomorrow – “before the Sean Bell verdict,” the Community Assistance Unit memo cautions – to figure out a way to dial down the tension.

In the neighborhood’s calculus of tribal resentments, the attack on Charles was the mirror image of a January incident in which a teenage yeshiva student named Samuel Balkany said five black kids jumped and beat him, shouting “little Jew boy, you think you own this neighborhood,” and such.

Despite a call from authorities for help in solving the case, nobody was arrested for the Balkany beating. Let enough of these tribal skirmishes accumulate, and you end up with a neighborhood ready to explode.

Last week, much to their credit, cops from the 71st Precinct and Patrol Borough Brooklyn South quickly began a full-court press to solve the latest beating, with an extra incentive supplied by the fact that Charles’ father, Moses Charles , is a cop in Brooklyn’s 70th Precinct.

The NYPD swiftly found the attackers’ car in East New York , stripped of plates but still traceable. At the car owner’s home, according to the Community Assistance Unit memo, cops arrested a man – believed to be the brother of the car’s owner – for interfering with government administration, and later released him.

All along the way, local politicians and community leaders – both black and Jewish – have been talking.

It’s a rotten shame that people in my neighborhood haven’t figured out how to live side by side, and an embarrassment that we have to rely on cops and nervous bureaucrats to keep the peace.

Nowhere in the city will you find more devout religious people than in Crown Heights, yet it has come to this – shortly after Easter and the Pope’s visit, and in the middle of the Jewish High Holy Days.

Can’t we all just get along? DailyNews

Cop Uses Last Day to Ticket Other Cops

A Middletown police officer spent his last day on the job writing tickets for 14 patrol cars that had expired inspection stickers.

Cpl. Frank Holden says he was just doing his job.

The 26-year veteran tells the Asbury Park Press he retired at the end of the year because Police Chief Robert Oches is hurting morale.

Holden says he spoke to the chief about the vehicles that needed to be inspected several months ago.

The township is investigating whether the tickets are valid because some of the vehicles were out of service.

Driving a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker may result in fines between $100 and $200.

Protesters say police roughed up Arab family while family was resisting arrest

PATERSON — More than 200 Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans marched and chanted slogans Friday against police tactics that left members of a Syrian-American family injured and facing felony assault charges.

“Justice to the Muslim community,” they shouted as they held placards above their heads. “Justice to the Haq family. Bring the abusers to justice.”

The crowd gathered outside City Hall to protest the bruises, a broken nose and deep gashes that three members of the Haq family — mother, father and eldest son — suffered after they allegedly grappled with three police officers Wednesday inside their Dakota Street home.

The officers came to investigate a 911 call of adult-on-child domestic violence at the house. Police say the eldest son, Saer Haq, 26, threatened to kill the officers.

The melee ended when the officers arrested the three Haq family members who allegedly assaulted them: Saer Haq; his father, Sammy Haq, 52; and his mother, Montha Haq, 49.

Also arrested was Ammar Haq, Saer Haq’s 21-year-old brother, and a neighbor, Gunnur Kulaksiz, 42.

Police officials maintained that the officers’ response was appropriate under the circumstances. They say Saer, Sammy and Montha Haq jumped on the officers as they were trying to arrest Saer Haq, who has an arrest record that includes several resisting-arrest offenses and one assault charge stemming from a Feb. 14, 2005, domestic violence complaint, according to police records released Friday.

“The police department and the police are justified to use whatever force to affect an arrest,” Police Chief James Wittig said after the protesters left City Hall to rally before the Public Safety Complex on Broadway.

Some protesters said they were not so much bothered by the fact that the five were arrested but that three of them were bloodied in the process.

“How much force do they need to arrest people?” said Mohammed Latif, 29, who traveled from Linwood in Atlantic County after seeing images of the injured family in an Arabic-language newspaper. “That just reminds me of Abu Ghraib.”

Wittig said: “How about the police officers who were injured?”

Two of the officers involved were treated at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center for minor injuries and released.

Friday’s protest was mostly peaceful, minus a short tussle between protest organizer Hani Awadallah and Mayor Joey Torres, in which the mayor tried to keep Awadallah from grabbing a microphone used during the mayor’s short press conference. So Awadallah used his voice instead. He shouted into the cold afternoon air:

“We came here in peace and we will be leaving in peace.”

Passaic Mayor indicted

Passaic Mayor Samuel Rivera was indicted on two counts of corruption today, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Rivera, 61, was arrested along with 10 other public officials in the FBI’s September 6th corruption bust. He is charged with accepting a $5,000 bribe in exchange for influencing local government contracts. The indictment states that Rivera intended to later be paid $50,000 for further help in peddling influence to make an undercover company the broker of record for city insurance services.

According to the indictment, Rivera told a cooperating witness that he could get them the necessary number of votes on the city council.

“I can get four votes easy, easy, easy,” the indictment quotes him as saying.

The indictment also alleges that when the insurance company’s presentation was questioned by a Passaic employee, Rivera responded “I make the [expletive] decision. And the council. And believe me, I’ve got the four [expletive] votes on the Council. So let’s stop [expletive] here and let’s get this thing rolling.”

If convicted, Rivera could face a maximum of 20 years in prison for the attempted extortion charge and 10 years for the bribery charge.  politickernj.com

Racial slur leads to fine in Passaic

One man who decided to use a racial slur learned a costly lesson.

The man called a Passaic Public Works employee the N-word, and that’s when the worker got even.

New Jersey reporter Toni Yates has the story.

Department of Public Works employee Aregawi Kishen says he took his complaint to a judge to make a point

“The N-word is a word that comes with a negative affect,” he said.

He hopes the Clifton man who called him by the racial slur back in September got more than the $150 fine. He hopes he also learned a permanent lesson.

Kishen says he doesn’t know how the encounter digressed in the first place. He said he had his truck parked on the corner of Washington and Hoover streets. He doesn’t even think the truck was blocking the man’s car.

But he says the man jumped out and hit him with a barrage of racial slurs.

“He got angry and he called me a million names, and finally the N-word,” Kishen said.

Passaic joined that surging nationwide effort last year to ban the N-word. But to be fined for using it? Passaic mayor Sammy Rivera, who appointed the judge who leveled the fine, agreed with the action.

“At least fined,” he said. “It’s everybody’s city, everybody’s country.”

“All the lives we lost behind that,” one area resident said.

The resident spoke openly and honestly outside City Hall about how stinging the word can be.

“I even went to jail behind that,” he said. “Honestly, for a caucasian calling me that. Me acting out on it got me four years in prison.”

Kishen’s case was decided yesterday. He feels comfortable now putting the matter to rest and forgiving his offender.

“The gentleman, he apologized,” he said. “And apology accepted,

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.

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.

Paterson, Clifton see surge in robberies

Paterson and Clifton police are continuing to see a surge in robberies, including a half dozen since Friday — two in broad daylight and two at gunpoint.

The victims — three men, a juvenile and two women — were not seriously injured in any of the incidents, police said. It’s unknown if any of the robberies are connected.

In Clifton, a 53-year-old woman was walking on Main Avenue near Park Slope when someone ran up from behind and snatched her purse around 11:15 a.m. Monday, Detective Capt. Robert Rowan said. The robber, described as a young black man wearing a black jacket, black hat and dark pants, fled on foot, police said. The purse contained less than $20 and numerous credit cards.

About a half-hour later, a 12-year-old boy was grabbed from behind and asked if he’d ever been robbed before as he walked passed a used car lot at Lexington Avenue and Van Riper Avenue. The robber, described as an adult Hispanic man in his early 20s, wearing all black clothing, took $5 and a cellphone from the juvenile, who ran to a friend’s house and called police.

“We’ve had a significant amount of robberies this month,” said Rowan, adding that middle-aged men and women had been targets in a string of recent strong-arm robberies. “It’s particularly troublesome when an adult is robbing a kid,” he said.

In Paterson, a waitress on her way home from work around 7 p.m. Friday was robbed of her purse after a brief struggle with a robber on Maryland Avenue, where she was punched in the face, said Lt. Anthony Traina. The robber, a man described as 5 feet 8, dark skin, in his late 20s, wearing dark colored clothes with a hood, fled on foot. The purse, which did not contain any money, was later recovered, said Traina.

Around 11:30 p.m. that evening, a 21-year-old man walking from his girlfriend’s house was robbed by three men in dark clothing, who approached him and told him to get on the ground at 12th Avenue and East 16th Street, Traina said. The victim said one of the men pointed a gun to his head and pistol-whipped him before robbing him of $20, said Traina.

On Sunday, another 21-year-old man was robbed on Governor Street by two men wearing ski masks, who brandished a gun, police said. The men fled with a wallet, which had $20, said Traina.

Shortly after midnight on Monday, a 24-year-old man was robbed by two men, wearing hooded sweatshirts, on Harrison Street and Graham Avenue, said Traina. The robbers got away with $23 and a cellphone, police said. NorthJersey

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

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

Passaic has yet another fire

PASSAIC — A fire at 220 Sixth St. destroyed one second-floor apartment, leaving heavy water and smoke damage in several nearby apartments and on upper floors. The Saturday night blaze also forced the city Housing Authority to relocate 12 residents, while 10 others found alternate lodging on their own, Sgt. Hershel Rawls of the Passaic Police Department, said Sunday.

In all, eight apartments were vacated as a result of the fire, according to the police report, Rawls said.

No residents were hurt in the blaze, although two firefighters sustained minor injuries and were treated and released from St. Mary’s Hospital, said Deputy Fire Chief Allen Roman.

A third firefighter suffered more serious injuries to his ankle including torn ligaments, Roman said. He was taken to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson where he was treated and released.

Roman said the firefighter will be off duty until his ankle can be surgically repaired. The fire was reported just before 11 p.m. and the blaze was brought under control by 11:23 p.m., Roman said. Though the cause of the fire is still under investigation, investigators believe it was possibly started by someone smoking in bed. Northjersey.com

Passaic Police Officer catches Clifton thieves

CLIFTON — Police arrested two men and two juveniles suspected in-several strong-arm robberies of middle-aged men and women committed this month in Clifton and Paterson, authorities said Friday.

The four males, 16- to 20-years-old, were apprehended early Friday, shortly after three of them allegedly attempted to rob a 52-year-old man returning to his Prescott Avenue home in Clifton, Detective Capt. Robert Rowan of the Clifton Police Department said.

The would-be victim, sensing he was about to be robbed, pretended he had a pistol by stuffing his hand in his pocket. The three would-be attackers fled, Rowan said.

Witnesses provided a description of both the would-be robbers and their getaway vehicle, allowing a Passaic police officer to pull them over shortly afterwards, Rowan said.

A Clifton detective discovered a 10-inch knife in the vehicle.

Within a few hours of their arrest, Clifton Detective Robert Tillie used a cell phone found on one of the juveniles to link the four to a recent Paterson robbery, in which a 49-year-old, mentally disabled man was assaulted for $15 and his cell phone, Rowan said.

Clifton police were attempting to see if the four males also are responsible for several robberies in and around the Lakeview section of the city, including one committed Wednesday night in which a 54-year-old woman was robbed of her end-of-the-year bonus check and $400 earmarked for her family’s Christmas presents, Rowan said.

In the meantime, Clifton police have charged both Paterson men — Maison Booker, 20, of Sheridan Avenue and Raheem Beal, 18, of Ryle Avenue — with unlawful weapons possession, conspiring to commit robbery and employing a juvenile in commission of a crime.

Booker and Beal were being held Friday at the Clifton Municipal Jail. Bail information was not immediately available.

The juveniles, both 16, were charged with juvenile delinquency and were being held in the Passaic County Juvenile Detention Center in Haledon, according to authorities.

Clifton house destroyed by fire

CLIFTON – A two-story house on Alfred Street was destroyed by fire late Monday, police said.

There were no reported injuries in the house, but several animals apparently perished, said police Lt. Pat Ciser. Neighbors reported flames moving from the back to the front of the house as city firefighters battled the blaze.

None of the houses adjacent the burning building was damaged, Ciser said. NorthJersey.com