NORTHERN VALLEY AREA, N.J.—An erratic driver from Rockland County, N.Y. faces eight charges from multiple jurisdictions—with incidents starting in Northvale, when a wild ride south through Northern Valley communities eventually concluded when the driver rammed a Fort Lee police sergeant’s patrol car at the George Washington Bridge, published reports and official statements show.
Among the complaints against 31-year-old Joseph Russo of Congers, N.Y., Demarest police filed charges of aggravated assault on a Demarest police officer, eluding police and endangering the welfare, Chief Christopher Bianchi confirmed.
Bianchi told Northern Valley Press that Northvale Police Department received a 911 call on Aug. 16 at 4:34 p.m. reporting an erratic driver of a tan vehicle was traveling south on Livingston Street.
Demarest police were working a construction detail on Knickerbocker Road when the vehicle in question, still driving erratically and at a high rate of speed, approached the detail, Bianchi said.
When a Demarest police officer on foot tried to stop the vehicle, it sped up and the officer had to jump out of its way, Bianchi said. Another officer at the southern end of the construction detail then initiated a pursuit southbound on Knickerbocker Road, but lost site of the vehicle in Tenafly and broke off the pursuit, Bianchi said.
According to published reports, the vehicle eventually fled south on Rt. 9W and was pursued by Tenafly, Fort Lee and the Palisades Interstate Parkway police departments.
At the George Washington Bridge toll plaza, the driver rammed a Fort Lee Police Department vehicle and made it through the plaza, but was ultimately apprehended, according to published reports. The driver’s arrest was shown on a widely circulated video.
Russo was remanded to Bergen County Jail on Aug. 17 and released later that day. Other jurisdictions have also filed charges, including aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, assault by auto, and resisting/eluding.
