Shortly after noon on Friday, April 7, Officer John Donovan was called to the BJ’s lot on Passaic Ave. on a report of a person slumped over the wheel of a parked car. There, police said, he found a 2004 Honda, its engine running and its wipers wiping (even though it wasn’t raining) and the driver’s seat occupied by a sleeping Spencer Heelan, 30, of North Arlington.
Donovan’s knocks on the window managed to rouse the man and, with back-up Officer Philip Finch, field sobriety tests were conducted. Heelan was taken to headquarters, where further tests reportedly indicated he was under the influence of narcotics.
A further indication, police said, was his being in possession of a pipe and eight folds of suspected heroin.
Heelan was charged with DUI, possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia, and possession of drugs in a motor vehicle.
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Other recent reports from the Kearny police blotter included the following:
April 6
Shortly after midnight, Officers Michael Gontarczuk and Jonathan Dowie observed a 1999 Honda speeding west on Bergen Ave., stopped it at Schuyler Ave. and found it operated by Erick Ciriaco-Diaz, 25, of Kearny, whom Gontarczuk reportedly recognized. Police said a warrant check revealed the driver had two from Kearny — each for $500 (full); one for a drug offense, the other for traffic violations. He was arrested on those and also issued a summons for violation of his license permit status.
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Officers Chris Manolis and David Bush, on patrol in South Kearny at 2:45 a.m., spotted a N.Y.-registered 2017 Honda speeding east at Hackensack Ave./Rts. 1/9 and pulled it over on the Jersey City side of the Hackensack River bridge. Police said a certain aroma emanated from the vehicle and on the front floorboard were a bag of suspected marijuana, a grinder, a small pipe and a package of rolling papers. Driver Ibrahim Zahoor, 28, of Jersey City, was charged with possession of pot/paraphernalia, careless driving and operating a MV while in possession of a CDS.
April 7
At 1:45 a.m., Officer Gontarczuk, with Officer Sean Podolski as back-up, stopped a 2006 Mazda with a lighting violation at Woodland and Highland Aves. and reportedly observed two partially smoked pot cigars in the ashtray. Police said a search of the car produced a grinder and a plastic bag of the drug.
Driver Eric Teixeira, 20, of Kearny, got a summons for the lighting violation and was charged with possession of pot/paraphernalia and possession of a CDS in a MV. Teixeira also ended up in the Hudson County Jail because the incident occurred in the vicinity of a prior drug arrest, police said.
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Det. Sgt. Michael Gonzalez and Officers Jose Castillo, Jose Perez and Tim Castle responded to an 11 p.m. report of a robbery in progress in a multi-family building on the 600 block of Elm St. In a common hallway, police reported, they found a 23-year-old Kearny man who was bleeding from the face and who said he had been assaulted by at least two persons.
Checking the area, the officers found a 2001 Hyundai occupied by two Newark males — 19-year-old Aljaquan Webb and a 15-year-old — who police said admitted they were in Kearny for a drug transaction, that a dispute ensued, punches were thrown and they had relieved the victim of some currency. [The amount was not revealed.]
Both were charged with robbery and conspiracy. Webb was remanded to the Hudson County Jail; the 15-year-old, to the Union County Juvenile Detention Center (which now houses youths arrested in Hudson).
April 9
At 8:10 a.m., Officer Finch stopped a westbound 2002 Chrysler that reportedly had sped past his marked patrol car on Harrison Ave. When asked for his credentials, police said, driver Audley Campbell, 64, of Jersey City, responded, “I don’t have a current driver’s license, but I have an old boat license.” Since Harrison Ave. was not flooded at the time, this did not suffice. It was also reported that Campbell’s driver’s license had been suspended since 2006 and that he had three outstanding warrants, all MV related: Bayonne, $3,000 and $626; Union City, $99.
He was booked in Kearny on those and for careless driving and driving while suspended and was turned over to Bayonne authorities.
– Karen Zautyk
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