This week’s blotter is topped by two sleepyheads from Hoboken who reportedly opted to take an early-morning snooze in a car — its engine still running — on Midland Ave.
Police said Officer Dominic Dominguez spotted the 2000 Honda Civic sitting in the westbound lane of Midland at Schuyler Ave. at 4 a.m., Sunday, Sept. 4, with the driver apparently asleep at the wheel. Closer investigation by Dominguez and backup Officer Michael Gontarczuk revealed that the front-seat passenger was also in dreamland.
When the cops started banging on the windows, police said, passenger Anthony Giovine, 25, woke up, yelled “something unintelligible” to the driver and grabbed the shift in an attempt to put the car in gear. Dominguez shouted at driver Miguel Padilla, 23, to turn off the engine, but he reportedly stepped on the accelerator, causing the Civic to lurch forward, nearly striking the officer.
At that point, police said, Gontarczuk reached through the passenger window, unlocked the door, jumped in, tuned off the ignition, put the thing in park and arrested Giovine for obstructing the administration of law and hindering apprehension.
Dominguez ordered the driver from the vehicle and asked where he was coming from, to which Padilla reportedly responded, “I was following you.”
After field sobriety tests, Padilla was charged with DWI, along with driving with a suspended license, eluding a police officer and, like his buddy, obstructing the administration of law. Giovine, who reportedly had become “agitated and threatening,” was additionally charged with harassment, and on a $100 contempt warrant from Jersey City.
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Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:
Aug. 30
At noon, Officer Jordenson Jean spotted a 2006 Pontiac parked halfway into the street and blocking traffic on Oakwood Ave. near Kearny Ave. As he watched, police said, Marie Donoghue, 48, of Kearny, entered the car, put it in reverse, hit a parked Chevy and then began to leave the scene. Jean stopped her.
According to police, her speech was slurred, she appeared to be staggering and she admitted having taken medication earlier in the day. Following FSTs, she was deemed to be under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs and was charged with DUI. A search incident to arrest reportedly produced an unlabled pill container holding seven oxycodone tablets, one morphine pill, one Xanax and half an alprazolam. Donoghue was additionally charged with possession of a prescription drug not in its original container, careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.
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Four days after it opened, B.J.’s had its inaugural shoplifting suspect — and the award goes to: Christian Garcia-Carretero, 38, of Kearny, arrested shortly after 9 p.m. by Det. Neil Nelson. Police said the detective observed him enter the store, exit several minutes later, remove some packages from his pants and place them in a plastic bag. Nelson’s attention had been drawn to this individual because he had already been developed as a suspect in thefts from another local store, police said.
When confronted, Garcia-Carretero was allegedly found to be in possession of four three-packs of HB ink cartridges, with a total value of $343. At headquarters, police said, he confessed to two other thefts, Aug. 19 and 21, at Radio Shack, where cell phone signal boosters were taken — and he was charged with three counts of shoplifting.
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While the preceding was occurring, Officer Chris Manolis was responding to a report of a suspicious person on Ogden Ave. There, he encountered Israel Rosario-Feliciano, 32, of Newark, and arrested him on a $250 criminal-mischief warrant from that city. Newark PD was notified.
Sept. 1
At 12:30 a.m., Officer Jon Dowie pulled over an eastbound 2004 Infiniti for failing to keep right on the Newark Turnpike. After detecting a certain recognizable odor, he and Officer Chris Medina scanned the car and saw a plastic bag of suspected marijuana in the center console, police said. Driver Geremy Jackson, 26, of Jersey City, was charged with possession of pot/paraphernalia, possession of a CDS in a MV, and the original failure to keep right.
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Officer Ben Wuelfing, on DWI roving patrol at 2:30 a.m., observed a 2011 Honda travelling north, reportedly in the middle of Kearny Ave. near Bergen Ave., and stopped it at Halstead St., with Officer Medina as backup. Police said they detected the odor of alcohol and noted that the driver was fumbling for his paperwork. Following FSTs, and an Alcotest at HQ, Rafael Azcona-Bueno, 55, of Kearny, was charged with DWI and careless driving.
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Sgt. Michael Gonzalez, in ShopRite at 6 p.m., recognized one individual, ran a records check and found that the man indeed had a warrant: $250, from Harrison, for shoplifting. When the sergeant confronted him, police said, William Vega, 40, of Newark, was also found to be in possession of two new pairs of sneakers, apparently stolen from Marshalls. The footwear was returned to the store, Vega (who does not have four feet) was arrested on the warrant, and the Harrison PD was notified.
Sept. 2
At 1 a.m., Officer Medina pulled over a 2006 Honda Civic he had observed travelling near Bergen and Schuyler Aves. reportedly without any lights (front or rear). Police said driver Mohammad Smadi, 34, of Kearny, produced an expired N.J. driver’s license that turned out to have been suspended. Following FSTs, he was arrested for DWI and also charged with the license and lighting violations and refusing an Alcotest.
Sept. 3
A visibly damaged 2006 Acura with Pennsylvania plates caught the attention of Officer Dowie as it screeched along on a rim on Bergen Ave. at 3:45 a.m., police said. Dowie followed it along Bergen, then Schuyler, and stopped it on the 200 block of Ivy St. With Officer Manolis and Sgt. Jack Corbett as backup, FSTs were conducted on driver Anthony Morales, 30, of Kearny, who was then arrested for DWI and driving while suspended. At HQ, police said, Morales became “defiant, threatening and profane” and was charged with refusing an Alcotest, along with careless driving and operating an unsafe vehicle. Passenger Shazmil Ward, 29, of Allentown, Pa., was also arrested, on a $250 Jersey City contempt-of-court warrant, and later bailed himself out.
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At 4 a.m., headquarters issued a BOLO for an “erratically driven” 2013 black Mercedes last seen travelling north on Kearny Ave. near Duke St. Officer Gontarczuk found and stopped it at Grove St. Police said driver Raimundo Barboza, 38, of Caldwell, was unable to produce his license (because it turned out he didn’t have one). After FSTs, and an Alcotest at HQ, he was charged with DWI and the license offense. He reportedly also had two warrants, both for bad checks: North Arlington, $1,360 (full), and West Long Branch, $75.
(Editor’s note: According to police, Barboza admitted he had “had one beer.” Commented one unnamed source, “Whatever happened to the he-men? ‘I only had three’ used to be the standard response.”)
Sept. 4
At 10:40 p.m., Officer David Bush stopped a 1993 Toyota on Rts. 1/9 in South Kearny for failing to keep right and having an expired inspection sticker. Police said he detected the smell of pot, saw a marijuana grinder in the car and found driver Nuhem Lozada, 36, of Elizabeth, to be in possession of a plastic bag containing the drug. Lozada was charged with pot/paraphernalia possession, operating a MV while in possession of a CDS, and the original two MV offenses.
Sept. 7
Officer Michael Alvarez, at Kearny Ave. and Grove St. at 2 a.m., observed movement in the back of a parked 1999 Mercury and, aware of multiple car burglaries in town, checked it out and therein found Michael Petro, 35, of Kearny. Police said the car turned out to belong to a family member, but Petro was still arrested, on two MV warrants: $250 out of Kearny; $256, Wayne.
— Karen Zautyk
