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.
Report of theft at gym — loss said worth $16,500
Police responded to a gym on Van Riper Drive on March 15 for a customer’s report of theft from his locker, the loss estimated at $16,500 in cash and jewelry.
The man, 53, alleged an inside job, saying his Piaget wristwatch, worth $15,000, and the remainder in cash were lifted from a secure locker.
Detectives were notified. The man said he would forward photos and receipts.
Driver at checkpoint had hollow-point bullets
Police arrested a man, 18, for drug offenses and possession of hollow-point bullets at a DWI checkpoint March 16 on Grand Avenue West.
While speaking with the driver, who was stopped as number five in the checkpoint cycle, officers detected the strong odor of burnt marijuana emanating from the vehicle.
The driver turned over a burnt marijuana cigarette and consented to a search of the car. Police turned up rolling papers and, in an unlabeled orange prescription bottle in the center console, 10 hollow-point bullets. Four were .380 caliber and six were 9mm caliber.
The driver was read his Miranda rights. Asked about the ammunition, he said the rounds belonged to a friend in the military who had left them in the car. He said he himself does not own a gun.
In addition to summonses over the marijuana, the defendant was given a summons on one count of possession of hollow-point bullets, a crime in the fourth degree. He was given a court date and released.
Driver, passenger arrested on drug charges
Police conducted a vehicle stop March 16 that led to the arrest of the driver and passenger, both 33, for drug offenses.
According to the police report, the defendant’s Audi was seen making an illegal left turn out of the 7-Eleven parking lot onto Grand Avenue East at 10:35 p.m. Both the driver- and passenger-side brake lights were out, and the car’s rear license plate bracket obscured Garden State and New Jersey.
In speaking with the driver, police detected the strong odor of raw marijuana emanating from inside the car. A search turned up a plastic container and two baggies of raw marijuana, the latter two in a glass mason jar.
The two were arrested and taken to headquarters for processing and the issuance of summonses. Their court date was given, and then police gave them a courtesy ride back to their car.
Son, given to self-harm, is admitted to the hospital
Police initiated a motor vehicle stop on March 12 that led to an involuntary commitment to New Bridge Medical Center.
According to the police report, the officer was driving north on Chestnut Ridge Road when a gray minivan passed him going south at 56 miles per hour. The van would not stop; the driver indicated he was going to stop further on.
When the driver did stop, he explained his son lived at the address and that he was hurting himself. The officer said he was going to respond to the house as well.
As the father entered the house, the police report says, “he immediately began screaming at his son. I intervened and advised the father to go outside. I asked [the son] if he was trying to hurt himself and he stated he only hit himself in the head with a glass bottle.”
The officer adds, “I spoke with the mother, who stated that [redacted] repeatedly struck his head with a large glass bottle before my arrival.”
The report says the officer observed lacerations and scars on the victim’s arms. The victim’s mother said her son is a drug user, that he had been acting irrationally all day, and that he had requested to see his psychiatrist.
Backup arrived, and police called for an ambulance for involuntary commitment. The victim was admitted to the hospital.
Officer destroys deer run down on Spring Valley Road
An officer on patrol March 29 encountered a mortally wounded deer in the northbound lane of travel on Spring Valley Road near Laurel Brook Road.
He reports he moved the animal to a grassy area, moved himself to within 18 inches of the suffering creature, and put it down with a single shot from his service handgun.
The officer and another unit were unable to locate the bullet casing. They radioed police dispatch to contact a county crew for a dead deer pickup.
Man, 29, jailed after two days of heroin activity
Units were dispatched to the CVS on Kinderkamack Road the evening of March 25 on a report of a suspicious male standing outside the entrance and shooting heroin.
The next day he was the subject of a related call, and was jailed.
The initial investigation led to the arrest of the man, 29, for possession of hypodermic syringes.
It turned out the caller, the defendant’s sister-in-law, was still in the parking lot in her vehicle. She told police she found the defendant in his grandfather’s Lexus—which he’s not permitted in—shooting heroin. She confronted him and they argued, and she chased him to the store.
The defendant was arrested, and he and his grandfather’s car were searched. He was given summonses and a court date, and he was released on his own recognizance. His brother picked him up from headquarters.
The next morning police received a call saying a man was sleeping in a car in the driveway at an address on Forest Avenue. This was the same defendant, again called in by his sister-in-law.
Confronted by police, he said he was OK but that he shot heroin after he was released. He also showed he had additional syringes and wax folds of heroin on him and in the car.
Police said that the man showed as a high risk for failure to appear and high risk for new criminal activity, so a warrant was recommended. A judge signed off on the warrant, and the defendant was taken to Bergen County Jail for lodging.