On September 10 at 4:29 a.m., Officer Anthony Oliveira was patrolling at Kearny Ave. at Hoyt St. and came upon a Honda Accord parked in front of a fire hydrant and angled into the roadway. A man and woman were asleep in the Honda. They had keys to the car but neither had a driver’s license on them. The two told a convoluted tale of staying locally with a friend after suffering losses during recent Hurricane Ida. Nationwide computerized law enforcement databases were down for maintenance at the time of the encounter, so officers could not check the status of the car or its driver. They cut the pair a break and moved their car to a legal parking space.
At 5:30 a.m., the computer databases came back online and the officers received a notification that the Honda had been reported stolen out of Newark before their encounter with the sleeping pair. The officers returned and impounded the car, but its occupants were in the wind.
Later, at noon, the pair who had been sleeping in the Honda came to police headquarters to retrieve the car from impound. The woman told cops that the car belonged to her ex-boyfriend and his reporting it stolen was all a big misunderstanding. Officers eventually confirmed the misunderstanding with the Honda’s owner; however, in the intervening time, they learned that the woman was wanted by Essex County Superior Court for failure to appear on an assault charge (no bail) and by Newark Court for criminal mischief ($5,000 bail).
Officer Alan Stickno then arrested Shakirah B. Hall, 21, of Newark, at police headquarters. Hall was turned over to the Essex County Sheriff’s Office.
On September 10 at 4:50 p.m., Officers Ryan Brady and Ryan Stickno arrested a 48-year-old Kearny man for violating a domestic violence restraining order. It is alleged that the man pushed and screamed at his 49-year-old girlfriend, who declined to press charges for the assault. However, the man was restrained from being at the home by a judge’s order. The violator was charged on a warrant with contempt of court and held at the county jail in South Kearny.
On September 11 at 11:13 p.m., several Kearny officers, supplemented by mutual aid officers from Harrison Police Department, responded to a report of a donnybrook near the corner of Garfield Ave. and Elm St. The officers arrived to find factions of a family engaged in ferine behavior in the street. In the course of taming the parties, the officers arrested a 33-year-old Belleville woman when she disregarded their commands and charged at several people in view of the cops. That woman was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, but later released with a summons.
Once officers quelled the dustup and sorted out the facts, they also charged the Belleville woman’s brother, a 30-year-old Kearny man, with contempt of court. This charge was related to his alleged violation of a domestic violence restraining order at the start of the fracas.
That man was arrested the next day when he appeared at police headquarters to inquire about the incident. He was charged on a warrant with contempt and sent to the county jail in South Kearny.
On September 12 at 9:47 p.m., Officers Bismark Karikari and Michael Ore, and Sgt. Pat Becker handled a report of a shoplifting at Shoprite. A loss prevention associate accused 73-year-old Gloria Malbon of Newark with concealing $82.01 of toiletry merchandise in her pocketbook and attempting to leave the store without paying.
Malbon was arrested without incident on a charge of shoplifting. She was later given a summons and a ride home.
On September 14 at 1:30 a.m., Officers Luis Cazares, Jose Castillo, Anthony Oliveira, and Josh Lopez arrested a 26-year-old Kearny woman for allegedly finger-nail-scratching her 32-year-old boyfriend during a domestic argument. The victim sustained lacerations to his forearm, chest, and neck.
The assailant was charged by summons with simple assault and later released from the police station.
On September 15 at 11:08 p.m., Officers Derek Hemphill and Lawrence Latka arrested a 46-year-old town man for simple assault. It was alleged that the man came home under the influence of alcohol, expressed displeasure with the cleanliness of the apartment, and then pushed his wife’s head against an apartment door. From this, the wife sustained a bloodshot eye and a bruise.
The assailant was charged on a warrant with simple assault and transferred to the Hudson County jail in South Kearny.
The above charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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Capt. Timothy Wagner | Kearny Police Department
Capt. Timothy Wagner is the Kearny Police Department's public-information officer and the commander of the department's Internal Affairs Unit. He contributes the KPD Blotter weekly and writes it completely.