Oct. 12
• The owner of a work truck told police that someone broke the front passenger side of the truck’s windshield while it was parked on Harrison St. between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m.
Oct. 10
• At 9:26 p.m. a Centre St. resident reported that a car stopped in front of their home and something was thrown at their home. The resident told police they followed the car into Bloomfield where Bloomfield P.D. confronted the occupants who denied doing anything.
• An anonymous call at 5:55 p.m. alerting police to graffiti on a Franklin Ave. building brought officers to the location where they saw markings drawn on the wall of the building in white chalk. The building owner was notified.
• A Walnut St. resident reported the theft of a bicycle belonging to his son’s friend. Police said the boy had left his SE Quadrangle, white with black lettering and a red chain at the resident’s home on the morning of Oct. 8 but it was gone by 5:30 p.m.
Oct. 9
• Someone vandalized a Raymond Ave. resident’s Halloween decorations in front of their residence. The resident called police at 9:55 p.m. to report that three mannequin heads were damaged and one was missing.
• At 6:39 p.m. police went to a Prospect St. residence on a report of an attempted burglary. The resident told police that they returned home to hear their alarm sounding and found the kitchen window open a couple of inches. Nothing was listed as missing.
Oct. 7
• A Park Ave. resident called police at 8:30 p.m. to report that two young men threw a metal sign at their car, hitting it and damaging the hood and shattering the windshield. Police said they spoke to two juveniles in the area who denied doing anything but said they saw two people carrying the sign but couldn’t provide a description.
• At 5:17 p.m. police said they found a hypodermic needle near High Five Hill on Radcliffe School property off Bloomfield Ave. Police placed the needle in a container and took it to headquarters.
Oct. 6
• At 8:37 p.m. Rhoda Ave. residents alerted police about hearing popping sounds and then noticing broken street lights and a passing dark-colored SUV. Police canvassed the area but found nothing.
• A group of girls called police at 8:05 p.m. to report they were walking along Passaic Ave. when a Ford pickup with extended cab and a flat passenger rear tire approached with its driver, in his mid-30s, with short dark spiked hair and wearing a dark blue shirt and jeans, yelled: “My brother is hurt and I can’t get him to the hospital now!” The girls said they offered to call police but the driver declined the offer. Instead, the girls told police, he asked them to use his phone to send a message because he didn’t know how to do it. The girls phoned police but when officers arrived, the truck was gone.
• At 6:44 p.m. police responded to a report of criminal mischief on Park Avenue where they found a parked bus with a broken passenger side window. No one was seen in the area.
• At 3:52 p.m. an attendant at a Washington Avenue gas station called police to report that they fueled a dark colored Nissan Maxima with three occupants with $30 in gas who then drive away without paying. Police searched the area but came up empty.
• At 10:35 a.m. police arrested Dragos Chihaia, 46, of Nutley, outside a Franklin Avenue apartment complex on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and simple assault after police said Chihaia attacked someone who had just walked out of their apartment. As he was confronted by an officer, police said Chihaia pulled a knife from the back of his pants and raised it over his head, threatening the officer who persuaded him to put it down. Police transported Chihaia to the East Orange Crisis Unit for psychiatric evaluation.
— Ron Leir
