Wednesday, May 15, 2013
A driver rear-ended a vehicle stopped on Fair Lawn Avenue Wednesday afternoon, setting off a chain reaction that sent multiple drivers to the hospital, police said.
The drivers of four cars involved in a chain reaction crash on Fair Lawn Avenue between 3rd and 4th Street Wednesday were taken to area hospitals with varying degrees of non life-threatening injuries, police said. Sgt. Eric Leitman said three cars were stopped in traffic waiting to cross the Fair Lawn Avenue bridge into Paterson around 3:30 p.m. when a fourth car rear-ended the third, pushing it forward and setting off a chain reaction that ensnared all four vehicles. He said the driver whose car was struck directly suffered the brunt of the damage and was taken to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson complaining of pain throughout her entire body. The drivers of the two cars in front of her were also taken to St. Joseph's, one…
Monday, May 13, 2013
A driver lost control of his vehicle early Monday afternoon on Route 208 North near the Berdan Avenue ramp.
A driver heading northbound on Route 208 rolled over his Jeep Cherokee in a single-car accident early Monday afternoon near the Berdan Avenue ramp, Fair Lawn police said. The driver was uninjured in the wreck, but his Jeep had to be uprighted and towed from the scene, Sgt. Timothy O'Shaughnessy said. It's unknown what may have caused the driver to lose control of his vehicle. The ramp from Berdan Avenue to Route 208 North was closed briefly while the accident was cleared, police said. -- Follow Fair Lawn-Saddle Brook Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to receive our daily newsletter in your inbox each morning
Fair Lawn became an accredited police department last week at a hearing in Princeton.
Fair Lawn's police department was one of 29 state, county and local law enforcement agencies awarded accreditation last week by the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police at a hearing in Princeton. The designation, a significant achievement for the department that requires its policies and procedures comply with best police practices in New Jersey and acts as a protective barrier against risk and liability in civil litgation, has been a long time coming. Acting Capt. Ron Patterson, the department's former accreditation manager, fine tuned the department's policies and procedures for two years in ultimate preparation for a visit and evaluation from assessors with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement. The assessors …
Saturday, May 11, 2013
A juvenile was taken to the hospital with a head injury late Friday night after being assaulted at Berdan Grove, Fair Lawn police said.
Based on information provided by law enforcement, an earlier version of this story stated that a rock was used in the attack. Police have since determined that no rock was involved, only a fist, according to a detective who was working the case. One Fair Lawn teen was in police custody and another was in the hospital Friday night following an after hours fight at a local park, police said. A personal argument that had been brewing for a few weeks escalated into violence by the handball courts at Berdan Grove around 11 p.m. when a 15-year-old resident tackled a 14-year-old resident to the ground and punched him in the head, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. A group of about 10 teenagers witnessed the attack, which involved only the two teens, both …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Fair Lawn police arrested two Haskell men and a 17-year-old juvenile Tuesday on a variety of drug charges.
A routine motor vehicle stop prompted by a passenger's failure to wear a seat belt ended in a multitude of drug charges for the car's occupants Tuesday after Fair Lawn police found heroin hidden on a juvenile in the vehicle, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. Upon stopping the car on Route 208 north at DeBoer Drive, Officer Paul Donohue discovered its passengers were under the influence of drugs and its driver was in possession of a hypodermic needle, Metzler said. One of the two passengers, a 17-year-old girl, was holding 39 bags of heroin on her person, according to police reports. The driver, identified by police as Dean Hopper, 19, of Haskell, faces charges of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute, …
Friday, May 3, 2013
A Bergen County Prosecutor's Office-led probe into heroin distribution in Bergen and surrounding counties resulted in seven arrests in Fair Lawn and two arrests of Fair Lawn residents outside of the borough.
Based on incorrect information provided by law enforcement, an earlier version of this story contained the name of a Fair Lawn woman who was not charged in the heroin distribution investigation. The correct name of the woman who was charged is Victoria Zaretskaya. Two Fair Lawn residents were among the 88 alleged buyers arrested over the course of a four-month investigation into heroin sales in Bergen, Passaic and Mercer counties, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced Thursday. Twenty-seventh Street resident Graham Dooner, 21, was arrested twice in Paramus over the course of one week in early March and Elaine Terrace resident Victoria Zaretskaya, 22, was arrested in April in Hackensack, according to a list of alleged buyers …
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Fair Lawn police arrested two Paterson men accused of burglarizing vehicles, according to police reports.
Police arrested two Paterson men Monday who were allegedly attempting to burglarize cars in Fair Lawn, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. Erikson Polanco, 20, and Emmanuel Bernard, 23, were each charged with two counts of burglary after police located them on Elm Avenue just before 10 p.m. following a report that they had been walking up driveways and attempting to enter parked vehicles, Metzler said. Bernard was also found to have an outstanding warrant out of Clifton for trespassing, Metzler said. Polanco and Bernard were transported to Bergen County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail. -- Follow Fair Lawn-Saddle Brook Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to receive our daily newsletter in your inbox each morning
Patrol officer Gerard Graziano was taken to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood Monday with an eye injury after being sprayed in the face with glass shards from a kicked-out patrol unit window, police said.
A Fair Lawn police officer was hospitalized with an eye injury Monday night after a man detained in the back of a patrol car kicked out the rear driver's side window and sprayed glass in his face, police said. Patrol officer Gerard Graziano was taken to Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and treated for a corneal abrasion, but was released and cleared to return to full duty Tuesday, Sgt. Brian Metzler said. The incident occurred around 9:20 p.m., when four officers responded to a domestic dispute on Sunnyside Drive involving Stephen Wyssenski, who was last known to reside in Fair Lawn, Metzler said. Wyssenski, 44, resisted arrest by kicking officers as they attempted to place him in the back of a patrol car, Metzler said. Once confined in the …
Monday, April 29, 2013
The Fair Lawn Police Department coordinated with the Drug Enforcement Agency on Saturday, April 29, to hold a drug takeback at Fair Lawn Borough Hall.
Citizens came in scores Saturday to turn in unused and expired medication at Fair Lawn Borough Hall as part of the police department's drug takeback event. Capt. Robert Kneer and borough nurse Nancy Brouca stood by to collect the medications, which will be turned over to the Drug Enforcement Agency and properly disposed of, police said. Drug takeback events provide the public an avenue to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. For more information, visit www.dea.gov. -- Follow Fair Lawn-Saddle Brook Patch on Facebook and Twitter, and subscribe to receive our daily newsletter in your inbox each morning
An interactive map of burglaries and robberies committed in Fair Lawn from January 2012 to early April 2013, provided by the Fair Lawn Police Department.
Burglaries in Fair Lawn, which have reached decade highs the past two years, continue to occur most often in the area west and south of the Route 208 highway that splits the borough, according to police department data. There have been 84 burglaries in Fair Lawn over the past 16 months, spread evenly between residential and non-residential break-ins. Burglars — or in some cases, a single burglar — hit the borough's merchants hard last spring, but in recent months the vast majority of burglary reports have been at homes. More than twice the residential burglaries and nearly all of the commercial burglaries in the past 16 months have occurred west of Route 208. Businesses on River Road, in particular, have dealt with a significant uptick in …
Jessie
7:21 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013
Mike has a point. Government regardless of subdivision is still government. I see someone being put into a Fair Lawn VOLUNTEER Ambulance. There is a few hundred bucks. Then there is each of the summons, if you dare to challenge them, the municipal court will charge you more for it. Between the fines and "costs", motor vehicle incidents net the government $100s, a thousand or more is not unheard … more ›