EMERSON POLICE BLOTTER: Dec. 16, 2019

Hail of damage after train smashes into fallen tree 

Officers were dispatched  Dec. 9 at about 8:32 p.m. on a report that a tree had fallen on the New Jersey Transit railroad tracks. When they arrived, they found a fallen tree had been struck at speed by a northbound NJ Transit train and showered the area with wooden shrapnel. 

Pieces struck three vehicles on Chestnut Street, causing moderate damage to one and minor damage to two, and to fencing on a Chestnut Street commercial property.

On Hasbrouck Avenue,  splintered timber damaged a fence and a Volkswagen Beetle and caused minor cracks and other distress to the side of a Hasbrouck Avenue house and a Ford Explorer parked in its driveway.

According to Emerson Police Capt. Michael McDermott, NJ Transit reported it would send an officer and maintenance crew to the scene.

Police warn on fobs after four vehicles entered, two others stolen 

Two vehicles were reported stolen during the early morning of Friday, Nov. 22, the day after four vehicles left unlocked were entered on Sanford Avenue and Seneca Avenue.

Police said they were able to “follow” the suspects via home doorbell surveillance video, and that this is aiding the investigation.

When officers responded to two vehicle thefts on Sanford Avenue Nov. 22, they learned that both vehicles had been left unlocked and key fobs inside the vehicles. 

Stolen were a 2018 Ford Explorer and a 2012 Toyota Highlander. Police Capt. Michael McDermott said both were recovered in Newark: one in a tow yard and another on the street. He added that investigations continue into suspected rings with similar patterns in northeast Bergen County.

McDermott warned residents to always lock their vehicles and remove the key fobs to minimize opportunities for theft.