On Feb. 21 at 9:59 a.m., Officer Anthony Nunez responded to ShopRite on Passaic Avenue for a report of a carjacking in which an SUV was stolen with a baby inside it. Preliminarily, it was alleged a 42-year-old Bronx man was loading groceries into his white BMW SUV when a red BMW SUV pulled alongside it.
A man exited the red SUV and then entered the driver’s door of the victim’s white SUV. The victim tried to stop the carjacker but was dragged and then fell to the ground, fracturing his arm. The carjacker then drove off with the victim’s daughter ,1, still inside the stolen SUV.
Officers from Kearny, East Newark, Harrison and Hudson County quickly located the stolen vehicle with the baby inside it on Passaic Avenue in East Newark, apparently unhurt. The carjacker abandoned the SUV and fled before police arrived. The adult victim was treated for his injury at Clara Maass Medical Center, Belleville.
On Feb. 23, detectives also recovered the “drop-off” vehicle, the red BMW SUV, stranded in a mud pit in an abandoned lot in Newark. Previously, it had been reported stolen from Carlstadt.
The case is currently under investigation by Det. Jordenson Jean, who may be reached at (201) 998-1313 ext. 2839, or at tips@kearnynjpd.org.
Just before midnight Feb. 18, Officers Derek Hemphill and Angel Martinez responded to a car crash at Johnston and Grant avenues. In one vehicle, officers found a 41-year-old woman, a 9-year-old child and a 14-year-old child, all with non-life-threatening injuries. In the other vehicle, they reportedly found Brayan E. Tamay-Ordonez, 21, of Newark, with a strong odor of alcohol on his breath and a few opened bottles of Corona beer on the floor of the backseat.
After administering field-sobriety tests, Officer Hemphill arrested Tamay-Ordonez. He was charged with DWI, open container of alcohol in a vehicle, disregard of a traffic signal, improper glass tinting, a violation of non-resident touring privileges, three counts of assault by auto (DWI/causing bodily injury) and one count of endangering another person.
Tamay-Ordonez was later released with summonses to a responsible person.
On Feb. 18 at 1:15 a.m., Officers Kevin Matos and Cort Montanino took a report of an attempted push-in-style burglary at an apartment on Midland Avenue. The victim reported a man tried to push in their apartment door, which was secured by a security chain lock. The door frame sustained damage. The suspect fled when the apartment’s occupants pushed the door closed.
While interviewing the victim, Officer Matos looked out the apartment’s window and spotted a man walking down the street who matched the alleged burglar’s description. The officers stopped the man at the corner of Beech Street and Midland Avenue. They identified him as Elvin J. Echevarria, a man wanted by both the Hudson County Superior Court and the Kearny Municipal Court on burglary arrest warrants. Officers placed the 49-year-old Newark man under arrest.
After further investigation, the officers charged Echevarria with criminal attempt (burglary) and possession of burglar’s tools (a modified set of tweezers and a bladeless utility knife). Echevarria was held at the Hudson County Jail.
On Feb. 18 at 5:57 p.m., Officers Luis Cazares, David Vazquez and Sgt. Ben Wuelfing were dispatched to a fight at a business at 9 Hackensack Ave. in South Kearny. Their investigation revealed allegations that Cristobal Martinez, 41, of Kearny, engaged in a fight with a co-worker in which Martinez allegedly punched the co-worker in the abdomen and pulled a knife on him. Another co-worker seized the knife when the two combatants went to the floor.
The officers arrested Martinez for aggravated assault and weapon possession charges.
He was later returned to South Kearny, where he was lodged at the county jail.
On Feb.18 at 10:41 p.m., Officers Josh Lopez and Danny Maganinho responded to a call of a suspicious incident at a restaurant on Passaic Avenue. An employee told officers two intoxicated people left the restaurant and tried to get into a car. The employee then pointed to the parking lot where a grey Honda SUV was reportedly being driven recklessly in circles while a man was stumbling around outside it.
The officers pulled over the SUV and met its driver, Corine R. Espinosa, 39, of Kearny. The stumbling man outside it reported to officers that he was Espinosa’s partner. Officers arrested Espinosa after she poorly performed a set of field-sobriety tests. Espinosa was charged by summons with DWI and reckless driving.
She was later released to a responsible person.
On Feb. 19 at 2:14 a.m., Sgt. Wuelfing watched a Ford pickup truck exit Route 7 onto Fish House Road and then abruptly stop in the roadway, nearly causing a crash. The pickup again began to move and Sgt. Wuelfing pulled behind it. The pickup reportedly swerved while attempting to negotiate the curves of Fish House Road and Sgt. Wuelfing had seen enough.
He pulled over the truck, which pulled over to the right lane but reportedly continued to drive slowly for another 100 feet. When driver Santos H. Moncada-Luna, 38, of Belleville, was unable to produce a license and performed poorly at field-sobriety tests, the sergeant arrested him.
Following breath testing at the police station, Moncada-Luna was charged with DWI, unlicensed driving and careless driving.
He was later released to a responsible person.
On Feb. 20 at 5:10 a.m., Officers Maganinho and Anthony Oliveira were dispatched to a car crash at Hackensack Avenue and Routes 1&9. The officers found a one-car crash in which Luke Lazarre, 37, of Brooklyn, had driven onto a cement curb, severely damaging one of his car’s wheels.
The officers found Lazarre seated in the vehicle with a Guinness beer bottle cap on his lap. Having observed signs of intoxication, Officer Oliveira administered field-sobriety tests, which Lazarre could not satisfactorily perform. He was arrested.
At police headquarters, Lazarre reportedly became quite a handful: refusing to be photographed, urinating on the floor and repeatedly calling the officers the “N-word.” Lazarre was charged with DWI, refusal to submit to breath testing and careless driving and was later released to a responsible person.
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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.