On May 8 at 12:20 a.m., Belleville Police were dispatched to 74 Holmes St. on a robbery call. The victim stated that he parked his car in his driveway and began to walk towards his house. As he did, two males approached him. One of the men was carrying what he described as a “rifle or shotgun.” Panicked, the victim bolted from the area, hopping fences between houses while shouting for the police. The suspects then fled in a “white sports type vehicle with a spoiler on the back,” according to witnesses. The victim recalled that he had noticed a white Mitsubishi with a blackened headlight that appeared to be following him as he drove home.
Twenty-five minutes later, Belleville Police received a call from Nutley Police who informed informed Belleville that they had just ended a highspeed vehicle pursuit at the intersection of Franklin Ave. and Liberty Ave. in Belleville after the fleeing car – a white Mitsubishi Gallant – lost control and crashed. They were now in foot pursuit of its three male occupants. Belleville Police joined the chase and apprehended one suspect in the rear yard of a home. Another man was seized a few blocks away. Police recovered a .45 cal. handgun, a shotgun, and shells.
20-year-old Davon Bailey of Bloomfield and Yusef Shark, 19, of E. Orange were arrested by Belleville officers and charged with a battery of offenses including burglary, unlawful possession of a weapon, resisting arrest by flight, and other charges. Bail for each was set at $50,000. The two men were transported to the county jail. The third suspect remains at large.
It was learned that the getaway vehicle had been carjacked from East Orange on May 5, and that its plates had been stolen off a Bloomfield vehicle the following day. A search of Shark’s home yielded proceeds from a recent home burglary in Cranford and five additional firearms. The two firearms found at the scene were confirmed as missing from the Cranford burglary. In subsequent statements to police, Bailey akkegedly implicated himself as the individual who attempted to rob the man at 74 Holmes St. He also stated that he “burglarized the home in Cranford,” Police said.
In other Belleville Police happenings:
May 8
Store security personnel at the Belleville Pathmark apprehended a shoplifter at 4:01 p.m. They told Belleville Police that the man, Cedric Brown, 29, of Montclair, had attempted to leave the store while concealing $136 worth of merchandise. Brown was found to carry a no-bail warrant from the Essex County Sheriff ’s Dept. He was arrested for shoplifting and held on that warrant plus $200 bail.
May 9
An aggravated assault was reported at Belleville High School at 1:05 p.m. When officers arrived at the scene, they spoke with the vice principal who said that as he attempted to separate two students engaged in an argument, one of them “grabbed him by the throat pushing him away.” He then notified the school resource officer who in turn called police. Student Nohely Alvarez, 18, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. She was later released on her own recognizance.
May 10
Officers stopped a man at 70 Heckle St. after he was observed peering into car windows at 10:59 p.m. When asked what he was doing, 38-year-old Agustin Commacho of Newark replied, “going to get cigarettes.” A background check found that Commacho had warrants out of E. Brunswick ($750), Newark ($250) and Elizabeth ($150). He was arrested and turned over to Newark authorities.
-Jeff Bahr
