Two motorists were injured in a harrowing head-on collision on Route 7 in Kearny last week, and police charged one of them with driving while intoxicated.
Police Chief John Dowie said the impact of the crash, which occurred at 3:20 a.m., Sunday, June 8, near the Harrison Ave. viaduct, “was so violent, the front wheels were sheared off both cars.”
Responding Officers Glenn Reed and Jay Balogh determined that the accident was caused by an eastbound driver, Roy Persaud, 30, of Clifton, who apparently crossed into the westbound lanes, his car smashing into an oncoming auto driven by a 24-year-old Jersey City man, police said.
Persaud was trapped in his vehicle and was extricated with the assistance of the Kearny Fire Department. Kearny EMS transported him to University Medical Center in Newark, where blood was drawn and he was subsequently charged with DWI. Persaud was also charged with reckless driving and, criminally, with assault by auto.
The other driver, described by Dowie as the “innocent victim,” was also taken to UMC for treatment. No charges were filed against him.
Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:
June 6
Officer John Fabula was on patrol on Hoyt St. below Schuyler Ave. at 9:30 p.m. when he saw five men standing in a row, shoulder-to-shoulder, and urinating simultaneously. Their pick-up truck was also relieving itself, as Fabula reportedly found beer “pouring out” of the passenger door from overturned bottles. The quintet, two from Newark and one each from Elizabeth, Lakewood and Kearny, were issued summonses for urinating in public, drinking in public and littering — tossing empty bottles on the ground. (Editor’s note: If the men had been engaged in some sort of competition, it is not known who won.)
June 8
At 2:30 a.m., a security guard alerted Officers Jay Ward and Chris Levchak to trespassers on a South Kearny commercial property, where they spotted several people fleeing over a fence. Officer Derek Hemphill joined the search and saw three males and a female entering an SUV in the parking lot of a nearby tavern. In plain view in the vehicle reportedly were a glass jar of suspected marijuana, a marijuana grinder and 19 cans of spray paint. At the trespass site, police said, a trailer was found vandalized with graffiti, the spray paint still wet.
Carlo Spina, Christian Sorbara and William Bartley, all 21, and Mary Garcia, 20, were charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief. Additionally, Bartley and Garcia were charged with possession of a CDS and drug paraphernalia.
All four are residents of Hopatcong. Asked what they were doing in Kearny, the answer was that they were here “for an adventure.”
Apparently in Kearny for a nap was Nicholas Nieves, 26, of Meriden, Conn., whom Officer Jose Canela found sleeping on a porch on the 100 block of Devon St. at 8:30 a.m., police said. After “numerous attempts” to awaken him, Nieves reportedly refused to get up and became loud and belligerent. He was arrested for disorderly conduct.
June 9
At 9 p.m., at Passaic and Johnston Aves., Vice detectives conducted an investigative detention of Terence Williams, 31, of Kearny. Police said Williams admitted having a small amount of cocaine in a cigarette pack, which he turned over to the officers. He was charged with possession of the drug and drug paraphernalia.
June 10
At 6 p.m., Officer Brian Wisely, alerted to possible stolen vehicles in a lot near John Hay Ave., reported finding one of those described, a 2007 Peterbilt tractor. A check of the VIN number showed it was reported stolen from New York, police said. Det. Sgt. John View and Det. Scott Traynor responded to the lot, where a second suspect vehicle, a GMC SUV, was also located and where they questioned a Jersey City man, William Quinones, 33. He was subsequently charged with receiving stolen property.
Pursuant to an ongoing marijuana-distribution investigation, Vice detectives placed under surveillance Rosa Feliciano, 23, of Harrison and, at 8 p.m., saw her driving near Kearny and Garfield Aves. Aware that her license was suspended and suspecting drug activity, the officers approached the car and saw her attempting to conceal currency and a plastic container, police said. Among the items reportedly found in the vehicle were a digital scale, eight small bags of suspected pot and $275 in cash. Feliciano was charged with distribution of the drug, distribution within 1,000 feet of a school and 500 feet of a park, and was issued MV summonses for driving while suspended and possession of a CDS while operating a motor vehicle.
– Karen Zautyk
