By Karen Zautyk
Observer Correspondent
KEARNY –
A Paterson man who was involved in an auto accident on Passaic Ave. last week ended up under arrest after he bit two of the EMTs who had been called to render medical aid, Kearny police reported.
But then, he would have been arrested anyway, since police said he had four outstanding warrants. And was allegedly under the influence of marijuana.
The drama started at 9 a.m., March 17, when Officer Kevin Canaley responded to the report of a two-car crash at Passaic and W. Bennett Aves. and arrived to find two utility poles knocked down, one car up on the grass in the park and the second sitting sideways in the roadway.
Canaley summoned the Kearny EMS to assist both motorists, a 23-year-old Union woman, whose car had jumped the curb, and Joseph Williams, 42, of Paterson, operator of the vehicle that had spun around.
Police said that as the EMTs tried to aid Williams, he became “very combative,” and when attempts were made to restrain him, he began kicking, punching, spitting — and biting. He was eventually subdued and taken by ambulance, and under police guard, to Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville.
When police approached Williams’ car, they reportedly detected the odor of marijuana and observed a blunt cigar wrapper with suspected pot. And, police said, when Canaley made a warrant check, he found that Williams had four: two from Paterson, one from Newark and one from the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office.
Williams was charged on those and with two counts of aggravated assault; possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia; operating a motor vehicle under the influence of a CDS; possession of a CDS in a motor vehicle, and driving while suspended and uninsured.
Police said he was to remain under guard at the hospital until Hudson County Sheriff’s officers took custody of him.
