On April 7, after 8 p.m., Officers Travis Witt and Jordan Anders were dispatched to the northbound Pulaski Skyway, a roadway of two lanes of traffic with no shoulders, and typically very fast-moving traffic. A caller had reported a slow-moving vehicle was repeatedly crashing into the guide rail.
When officers arrived, they found a 2021 Honda which had apparently struck the rail multiple times. The driver was completely asleep at the wheel and the vehicle was running. Sternum stimulation was required to rouse the driver.
As the driver regained consciousness, he attempted to drive off, despite police efforts to stop him. Officer Witt was able to reach in and turn off the vehicle; however, the driver apparently did not consent to this and began attempting to start the vehicle again.
After multiple attempts to start his engine, all while ignoring the orders of the officers to stop, the driver had to be forcefully removed from the vehicle. The driver tensed his body and resisted police control, all while reeking of alcohol. When offered medical attention, he refused. He was arrested and his vehicle was impounded.
The man was identified as Jordy J. Salas, 26, of Newark and he reportedly displayed signs of intoxication. Once at Kearny Police Department HQ, he began acting erratically. He refused to submit breath samples for the purposes of determining his blood-alcohol content and was processed and charged with obstructing the administration of law, resisting arrest, DWI, careless driving, reckless driving and refusal to submit to a chemical breath test.
When officers returned Salas to the processing room after a bathroom break, he refused to sit down to be handcuffed to the processing bench, and instead continued to spit on the floor. Officers had to resort to using force to seat and handcuff Salas. For these actions, he was additionally charged with a second count of obstructing the administration of law, disorderly conduct and expectorating (spitting).
Once processing was complete, Salas was to be released to his brother, who arrived at KPD HQ and signed the appropriate release paperwork. However, Salas had not yet finished demonstrating his dissatisfaction with police.
In the lobby of HQ, at the literal time that Salas was being released to his brother, he began to threaten the police officers who were releasing him. His brother attempted to hold him back; however, he aggressively began lunging toward the officers.
This time, he was able to successfully strike Officer Castillo in the stomach. Rather than to further escalate the matter or use further force, officers chose not to engage, despite having just been assaulted. Salas was allowed to leave with his brother and an additional charge of aggravated assault on a police officer was later generated and mailed to Salas.
Editor’s note: This is one of the greatest examples of officer restraint we’ve seen, maybe ever.
Court dates at both Superior and Municipal courts await Salas, who was not struck or injured throughout this incident.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.