Kearny police are working with their counterparts in Belleville to apprehend a man who assaulted and robbed an attendant at the Jersey Oil gas station on Passaic Ave.
KPD Officers Angelo Palagano and Tim Castle responded to the station at 10:30 p.m., May 18, and found the attendant bleeding profusely from a head wound. Gathering information from the victim and a witness, they learned that a white car occupied by two individuals had been serviced at the pumps and, as the attendant was in the process of giving the driver change, the passenger exited the vehicle, struck the attendant several times in the head with a metal object and demanded money. After the victim turned over $70 to $80 in cash, the car fled north on Passaic, Chief John Dowie said.
The KPD sent out an alert on the State Police Emergency Network, and a Belleville PD unit arrived at the crime scene to report that a similar vehicle was involved in a May 14 gas station robbery in that town.
Kearny Dets. Scott Traynor and John Telle are working on the case with Belleville investigators.
The injured attendant was treated by the Kearny EMS.
Also on May 18, at 4:30 p.m., the KPD received a report of a burglary and theft at a Schuyler Ave. auto dealership.
Police said the owner was driving past his closed-forthe- weekend business when he noticed that something was missing from the property. Namely, a 2011 Jaguar. Investigating, the owner discovered that a Dodge Durango had also been stolen and the dealership office had been burglarized, apparently to get vehicle keys. Police said the keys to three additional vehicles had also disappeared but those cars were still on the lot.
Officer Luis Moran was the initial respondent to the crime, and Dets. Traynor and Telle are conducting the follow-up. They reportedly have obtained security camera video showing a vehicle entering the lot and discharging passengers during the time the place was closed. The stolen vehicles’ VIN numbers have been entered in the National Crime Information Center network, and surrounding jurisdictions have been alerted.
Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:
May 16
Officer Derek Hemphill responded to a 2:30 a.m. report of a dispute inside a parked car on the 100 block of Hoyt St. and arrived to find a man and woman engaged in a heated argument. After calming them, he asked for the driver’s MV license. The man, who gave his name as Jermaine Johnson, said he never had one, police reported. Hemphill ordered both from the car and on the passenger seat observed a New Jersey ID card bearing the name Jermaine Jones, police said. The officer did license and warrant checks and reportedly found that the driver did have a license, but it was suspended, and also had two warrants from Newark. Jones, 27, of Elizabeth, was arrested on those counts and for hindering apprehension.
May 17
Officer Jordenson Jean, at Kearny and Midland Aves. at 4 p.m., got a hit on his mobile data computer that a car parked in the area belonged to an individual with an outstanding Kearny warrant. When Joaquim Ferreira, 31, of Kearny approached the vehicle, he was arrested.
May 19
At 11 a.m., Officer Dave Rakowski responded to an industrial tract on Passaic Ave. where a business reported a weekend burglary. The office had been entered and office equipment — including computers, printers, modems and routers — was missing. In addition, a company vehicle had been entered and various tools stolen. Police said the victim believed the perps had knowledge of the business’ layout. The case has been turned over to the Detective Bureau.
At 5 p.m., Vice Unit officers arrested Christian Garcia, 36, of Kearny at Kearny and Bergen Aves. after reportedly observing him engage in an earlier drug transaction. The officers recovered five glassine folds of suspected heroin, stamped “Smile,” that had been secreted in a cellphone case, police said. Garcia was charged with possession of the drug and paraphernalia.
Officer Daniel Esteves, on the 200 block of Kearny Ave. at 5:30 p.m., spotted a Jeep with an equipment violation, did a computer check and found that the registered owner had a suspended license, police said. Owner/operator Petronio Salazar, 39, of Kearny was charged with driving while suspended, operating an uninspected vehicle and failing to surrender a suspended license.
May 20
Ar 2:22 a.m., Officers Tom Sumowski and Tom Floyd and Sgt. John Becker arrested a “highly intoxicated” Sidnei Antunes, 28, of Kearny after a confrontation in an apartment hallway on the 200 block of Kearny Ave., police reported. Antunes had allegedly punched another man and then threw him down the stairs. The victim, a 37-yearold Kearny resident, was treated for facial and hip injuries. Antunes was booked for aggravated assault and sent to the Hudson County Jail.
May 21
Officer Joseph Vulcano, investigating a residential alarm on Rutland Ave. at 10:15 a.m., found no burglary to have occurred but did encounter a 52-year-old Newark man, Paul James, who had two outstanding Irvington warrants, police said. James was arrested on those warrants, and Irvington was notified.
– Karen Zautyk
