Editor’s note: This section is based on facts provided to Pascack Press weekly by neighborhood police departments. Due to pending court appearances and other variations, the following information should be read in “press time” context.
PARK RIDGE
Theft complaint ends with package delivered
– A bit of a mystery remains but no further police action is pending after a Grand Avenue woman reported the theft of a waiting UPS package from her doorstep.
The package was confirmed delivered on Oct. 26 at 10 a.m. but missing by 10:30 a.m. The resident said a man approached her property at 1:30 p.m. and left the package on her doorstep.
She “confronted the individual,” the police report says, but he evidently spoke no English. He left in a waiting vehicle.
The package’s contents were all there.
The resident said she would send police photos and footage from her security camera. A detective was notified.
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Phishing scam snares woman
– A Knoll Drive woman told police Oct. 29 she replied to a “phishing” email two days earlier, believing it to be an outstanding balance demand from Apple Inc., and supplied her date of birth, Social Security number, address, email address, telephone number, and Mastercard account number.
She became suspicious, closed her Master Card and Ameritrade accounts, and put a lock on her credit report.
Police supplied her with ID theft pamphlets from the headquarters lobby and reminded her to keep an eye on her accounts. She said she just wanted the incident on record.
No further police action is foreseen.
Resident reports strange account activity
– On Oct. 24 a Degroff Place resident reported to police at headquarters that Comcast had informed her a party using her Social Security number had opened an account under her name with a Jersey City address. The woman said she has never lived in Jersey City.
She said she appears to have suffered no financial loss but was advised to contact her credit card companies and monitor her bank account.
WOODCLIFF LAKE
Woman with infant in car charged over marijuana
– A woman with her 3-month-old son in her Mercedes-Benz SUV was stopped Oct. 9 at noon for an improper right-hand turn off Garden State Parkway exit 171.
In receiving the woman’s driving credentials, the officer smelled a strong odor of burned marijuana. The officer asked if she had any narcotics in the car, and she said no.
That said, on being asked to step out of the car and walk to the rear, she added that “she did indeed have marijuana in the center console,” the police report reads.
She handed over a joint, which was placed in evidence, and then she was arrested.
“Officers did not feel that [she] exhibited any signs indicative of being under the influence. In lieu of having the vehicle impounded and [her] being handcuffed, this officer requested that she follow officers in her own vehicle with her child aboard,” the report explains.
At headquarters, she was arrested and given the option of having a party of her choice come to collect the child. She opted to let him sleep in his infant seat and remain with her.
She was charged for the motor vehicle stop and CDS possession. After processing she was released with her child.
She’ll have to answer at Pascack Joint Municipal Court on Nov. 22.
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Trail of engine fluids leads police to car from crash
– Officers on Oct. 16 followed the trail of engine fluids to a closed garage, where they saw through a window a white car matching the description of one that had been reported involved in a one-car accident in the area of Woodland Road and Woodland Drive, leaving the scene and heading toward Berkshire Road.
The car, at a Berkshire Road residence, was missing the front bumper and had two flat tires.
A man answering the doorbell at 12:40 p.m. was reported as pale, lethargic, and disoriented, with bloodshot, watery eyes and disheveled clothes. He spoke in a low, raspy voice.
The man, 27, said his day had been going well until about 15 minutes earlier, when he had been in a car crash. He said he thought he’d hit bushes, but realized the extent of the damage, including a lost rear quarter panel, when he got home.
He was informed he had struck a retaining wall.
Asked whether he’d been drinking, he said no, “because his doctor recommended he cut down on smoking marijuana,” the report reads.
It further explains the man told police he had been prescribed medication for seizures, but was not affected by medication or seizure at the time of the crash, which he attributed to his distraction by his cell phone, which had been in his hand when he was returning from the Acme.
He said he had last smoked marijuana around midnight, and had his morning doses of medication.
He was taken to headquarters for suspicion of DUI.
After testing (at Hillsdale police headquarters, as Woodcliff Lake’s Alcotest machine appeared not to be functioning properly) the man was found to have a zero percent BAC.
A drug evaluation at Woodcliff Lake led police to conclude the man was under the influence of a central nervous system depressant and cannabis.
He refused to consent to a urine sample.
His summonses, returnable to Pascack Joint Municipal Court, are improper use of a handheld device, DUI, reckless driving, and leaving the scene of an accident involving property.
He was released into the custody of his mother.
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WESTWOOD
Maserati driver charged with DWI
– A 45-year-old Rockleigh man is charged with a variety of motor vehicle complaints including DWI after he failed sobriety tests after being stopped in the borough in his white Maserati in the early morning of Oct. 28.
An officer on patrol saw the Maserati stopped at Washington Avenue and Broadway for a red light, but by more than a car length beyond the stop line. The light turned green, but the car remained in place for the whole light cycle.
The officer by then had pulled in behind the car, and followed it through the right turn onto Broadway, where he stopped the driver to investigate.
Backup was called, and the driver was asked for his license, registration, and insurance. The officer reported he smelled the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage from within.
The driver was able to produce only a license. He was given and failed a pre-exit test, and then failed a field sobriety test.
He was arrested and taken to headquarters. His car was impounded. At headquarters the driver failed additional tests, and was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.06 percent.
He was charged with DWI, failure to stop or yield, obstructing the passage of a vehicle, failure to exhibit registration, failure to exhibit insurance, and careless driving.
He was released to a responsible party and will have to answer in court.
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