A man who unfortunately shares a name with a retired New York Mets shortstop finds himself behind bars after police in Lyndhurst were alerted to him coming into town driving a stolen truck, Det. Lt. Vincent Auteri, the Lyndhurst Police Department’s public-information officer, said.
On Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, at approximately 6:32 a.m., the Lyndhurst Police Department received an alert a stolen 2022 Isuzu box truck had entered the township.
Moments later, Officer Robert Litterio located the stolen truck in the area of Riverside and Rutherford avenues. Officer Litterio was joined by Officer Vincent Dorio and they both approached the stolen truck. The officers immediately learned the truck had one occupant. The officers tried several times to convince the suspect to exit the vehicle, but to no avail before the truck suddenly drove off.
Officer Litterio then returned to his marked patrol vehicle and pursued the stolen truck.
He was joined by Officer Anthony Giaquinto at that time. The pursuit began east on Rutherford Avenue from Riverside Avenue. The suspect vehicle then entered onto Route 3 East, and continued on Route 3 until reaching State Highway 1 and 9 South into Jersey City and then onto State Highway 139.
The suspect vehicle then made an abrupt turn onto Coles Street in Jersey City and proceeded onto Route 78 via the Newark Bay extension. The suspect vehicle proceeded through the toll booth at which time the officers were joined by marked units from the New Jersey State Police. The suspect vehicle continued on Route 78 in Somerset County — for 54 miles — until it ran out of gas at mile marker 26. The pursuit never exceeded speeds of 60 mph.
Officers Litterio and Giaquinto, along with a host of troopers, approached the stolen truck and apprehended the suspect — Jose R. Reyes, 41, of Hawthorne. A search of the stolen truck revealed the presence of heroin, crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia, burglary tools, multiple smart phones and a large quantity of cash.
Reyes was subsequently transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital for an evaluation before being released into the custody of the Lyndhurst Police Department.
Reyes was charged with receiving stolen property, eluding, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of burglary tools and two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance. Reyes also had outstanding warrants out of Fairlawn and Roxbury. Reyes was also issued 15 traffic citations before be remanding the Bergen County Jail, Hackensack.
The truck was stolen in Belleville on Aug. 31, 2024.
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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.