A lot of big things happened. This post isn't about them. Because fortunately for the OMGs from NJ PDs column writer(s), a lot of strange, surprising, stunning and sometimes silly stuff happened too, in towns throughout New Jersey. This year, OMGs started up, collecting some of the biggest head-smackers around the state into a weekly digest for your, um, weekly digestion. You're welcome. Some of the stories that caught our eye this year: (Big, big OMG-please-don't-sue-us disclaimer: The following accounts reflect incidents as reported by police and other authorities shortly after they …
Each Monday, Patch takes a peek at some of the more surprising, shocking, stunning and occasionally silly police-related incidents reported throughout New Jersey for "OMGs from NJ PDs." Here are a couple of the reports: Burned: A call to Kinnelon police by a homeowner complaining of a strange, possibly burning, odor resulted in the same woman’s arrest after authorities found a glass pipe packed with marijuana in her nightstand, police said. Firefighters even used an infrared camera to locate the possible fire — which led them to the alleged pot. Young at Heart: Never let it be said that …
It's not like you can really out-OMG a major snowstorm before Halloween. And yet, those alleged to be among New Jersey's criminal element really did try this past week. Rock Beats Scissor, Knife Beats Hammer: Bloomfield police say a man brandishing a hammer entered The Happy Ming Restaurant and told employees to open the cash register. When an employee grabbed a nearby knife, the man fled out of the restaurant empty-handed, police said. Did he not know they have knives at restaurants? Next week, he'll try to rob the gun shop with a spitball and a straw. When They Say Everything On It ... …
Every week, Patch takes a peek at some of the more surprising, shocking, stunning and occasionally silly police-related incidents reported throughout New Jersey for "OMGs from NJ PDs." Some of this week's reports: Who You Gonna Call? They say the problem with being a criminal is you can't call the police. But maybe no one told a Lakewood man who flagged down Manchester police. Officers say he got their attention because he wanted to talk about an incident in which someone smashed his car window at a party. But inside the same car, police say, they found an illegal weapon and an open alcoholic…
One woman got a very special birthday gift—a friend and neighbor willing to risk her safety to help. Mary Ann Zalenski of Haddonfield discovered a burglar leaving her home Tuesday, Zalenski's 53rd birthday, she said. She screamed for her neighbor, Angelica Jeffreys to help, and when the robber "took off like a rabbit," Jeffreys went after her, the two women said. Zalenski herself and police soon joined into the chase, they said. Officers eventually found the alleged robber several hours later, police said. “I laid awake last night thinking about it,” said Jeffreys, 46, a marketing advertising…
Cops say this crime had Andrea Bove's name written all over it. No, really. They literally mean his name was written down on the evidence. While patrolling the old Essex County Hospital Center on Fairview Avenue in Cedar Grove, officers noticed an open door and investigated further, police said Working with the Essex County Sheriff's Department, they found two lengths of freshly cut copper pipe, and a bucket of tools nearby, police said. Officers were getting ready to search the rest of the building when two men emerged from a wooded area nearby, police said. Both readily admitted removing …
You think you've been hot and uncomfortable this past week? Just be glad you're not covered with fur. The heat got to be too much to bear for one, well, bear, as a Dana Strus of North Caldwell learned. She looked out her window Tuesday and saw a black bear in her yard splashing around in her pool. The mother of one (with another on the way) did what one does in 2011 when something odd happens—she stepped out onto the patio to photograph and video her new friend Fozzie (and, lucky us, she was kind enough to share the video with Patch). We can only imagine that 20 minutes later, the bear's …
Which is more punishing—the law or a scorned spouse? Springfield police say one man was betting on the latter, when he allegedly lied to them about being robbed. It turns out, police say, the man had been at a go-go bar in Newark, and got lost driving home, eventually winding up in Springfield. When his wife became worried he was late, she kept calling him, and he eventually told her he'd just been robbed at gunpoint—rather than admit he was at the go-go bar, police said. But things got a little more complicated when the wife offered to call 911 for the man, police said. He instead told her …
Somebody did something bad to someone else who was sort of related to the first guy, but maybe not. That's about as far as our brains got when trying to make sense of a case where a 25-year-old Deptford man pleaded guilty to attacking someone else with a knife at a baby shower. In his plea, the man said the victim “was beating up on my little sister and a fight broke out”—a fight that led to the victim receiving a chest laceration, a broken rib and a collapsed lung. Ok. We're following it so far. But the next few details, courtesy of West Deptford Patch, had us struggling to understand the …
We're just glad Patch isn't delivered in trucks. It means we get to avoid this sort of stuff. A Clementon Borough man was charged recently with stealing a newspaper delivery truck from a Wawa store in Gloucester Township. When officers watched him pull away from his own home in the truck, police said, they pulled him over. Police said the man then attempted to run over a railroad embankment, nearly striking police officers and crashing into an unmarked Gloucester Township Police vehicle occupied by two detectives. The truck nearly rolled over onto its side, according to police. One thing was …
If a Woodbridge man did everything police say he did, he was just asking to get in trouble. Really, really asking for it. According to East Windsor police, the man first caught their attention when he called 911 to say a large building was going to be destroyed—a bogus claim. He was quickly identified and arrested, police said. But after he was released, the alleged incidents got a little more outlandish. The next was at a bank. According to Marc LeMieux, director of major crimes at the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office: “He said, ‘Nobody move,’ so everyone looks at him, everyone stops. …
There's something to be said for commitment. Although, in this case, we're talking about the term in the sense used to describe what happens to someone when he or she is locked away. As in two Montclair men could be committed to jail for a pretty unbelievable alleged theft. Police say two men they've caught and another they haven't yet stole a heating boiler from a multi-family house. But this wasn't some new-in-the-box boiler waiting for installation in the backyard, or a piece of junk awaiting the right time for proper disposal. This thing was hooked up, and in the house. Police say the …
OK, OK, we know. OMG is a bit late this week. It's just that ... well ... we couldn't imagine any news that would be a bigger OMG for anyone anywhere than the news that came down late Sunday night and Monday (and if you don't know what we mean, you've been living under a rock. A $1 million rock an hour from Islamabad). But if you're ready for some headsmackers that have absolutely nothing to do with the War on Terrorism—and have everything do to with the War on Stuff That Makes You Ask 'Are You Kidding Me?'—then read on. Each Monday (well, Tuesday this week), Patch takes a peek at some of the…
Let's be delicate here, and just file this one under crimes "OMGs From NJ PDs"does not recommend you try. (Official disclaimer: "OMGs from NJ PDs" does not endorse any crime at all, no matter how minor, or occasionally funny, and also thinks you should call your mom more often). Teaneck police arrested a 54-year-old Bogota man after store surveillance at a CVS allegedly caught him putting more than $100 worth of razors down his pants. The man was later spotted by police and identified by an employee of the CVS, authorities said; he was charged with shoplifting. Now to be clear, these were …
Who were those masked men? Violent robbers who caused commotion and damage as they made off with more than $1 million in Rolex watches and other high-end jewelry, police say. Wyckoff police said four masked men showed up at Hartgers, located at 699 Wyckoff Avenue, for a brazen robbery that sounds like something out of one of those movie scenes with high-energy Beastie Boys music and unnecessary freeze frames. "They had pillow cases and scooped up as much as they could before fleeing," Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said. "The way they did this coming in, watching the tape, it was very …
This is perfectly OK to have shipped to your home. This gets you in a little bit more trouble. But police say a South Brunswick man still attempted the latter (can't be bothered to click the links? They say he had pot delivered to his home). South Brunswick police reportedly received a tip that drugs were to be shipped to a Northumberland Way, South Brunswick, address. So Edison and South Brunswick police intercepted the package at a facility in Edison. The contents of the package included a safe that contained marijuana, police said. Officers then went undercover and delivered the package …
Police are used to talking about a lot of things—public safety hazards, drug-dealing, drunk driving, unruly behaviour and so on. You know what they don't spend a lot of time talking about? Shoes. Yet Lawrence Township police spokesman Lt. Charles Edgar had to make an exception this week. First, he told Patch about an incident in which a shoplifting suspect allegedly ran from police as he left Quaker Bridge Mall with a bunch of clothing from Victoria's Secret. At some point during the chase, the man's sneakers fell right off his feet—which perhaps made him easier to catch just a few minutes …
Every parent's been there. You're rushing to get out of the house for the family portrait at Grandma's or a playdate. You're already 10 minutes late. And everyone's ready except your precious little tyke or tykette—who absolutely refuses to get dressed. You pull your little buddle of joy's pants up, and he or she promptly pulls them down. You try to reason, and your little prince or princess starts the tantrum. You just can't win (well, not until you realize you're bigger than your toddler and can just pick him or her up). Security officers at the Quaker Bridge Mall experienced a similar …
View full size Add your photos & videos Often, the police-related news that catches our eye for Patch's weekly "OMGs from NJ PDs" is, well, a little silly. For instance, we tell you a lot about people who allegedly accidentally set the wrong houses on fire, who allegedly leave tracks in the snow leading to their homes after robberies, or who allegedly try to run over parking enforcement officers (which, by the way, will not get you out of a ticket). But any cops-related news that stands out may make the cut—including acts of heroism. Verona Patch reported on Feb. 22 that when Paul DeCaito …
OK, no one likes getting a parking ticket. But some people take it a little more personally than others. Montclair police are searching for a woman they say tried to run over the parking enforcement officer who left a ticket on her car. The parking enforcement officer told police she was issuing the summons for a black Nissan Sentra when she was confronted by a woman saying she would not pay the ticket. The enforcement officer placed the ticket on the windshield of the car, but the woman removed the ticket and threw it to the ground before entering her vehicle. The woman then exited the car, …
