This section is based on data provided to Pascack Press weekly by neighborhood police departments. Due to pending court appearances and other variations, the following information shall be read in ‘press time’ context.
RIDGEWOOD, N.J.—A 22-year-old Emerson resident and Bergen County Parks Department worker was charged with impaired driving after he crashed a county dump truck into as many as 10 vehicles Jan. 30 at approximately 2:30 p.m.
That was after he smashed the truck into the top of an underground parking garage in Ridgewood and fled the scene.
No injuries were reported.
Ridgewood Police charged Daniel Brancato with possession of controlled dangerous substances, including marijuana and Xanax, and DWI. Brancato has summonses for driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated in a school zone, leaving the scene of an accident, having controlled dangerous substances in a motor vehicle, and reckless driving.
Brancato, who later said he had panicked, hit several cars in the underground parking garage in trying to exit onto Maple Avenue. He damaged the garage and fled along East Ridgewood Avenue, where he struck more vehicles, Ridgewood Police Sgt. Michael Lembo told Pascack Press Feb. 1.
Apparently the truck hit the low clearance of the garage, Lembo said, adding Brancato then crashed through the exit and continued onto Ridgewood Avenue—trailing portions of the garage’s ceiling as he attempted to flee the former Sealfons Department Store on East Ridgewood Avenue, which now houses a bank and other businesses.
Police caught and arrested Brancato a short time later in a Prospect Street parking lot, approximately four blocks away. A county spokeswoman said Brancato was hired as a seasonal county worker in June 2018.
Brancato is due in Ridgewood Municipal Court Feb. 8.
— Staff report