COPS PROBE HOW WOMAN IN SPAT FELL FROM WINDOW

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Thursday, May 30, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | One Star | NEWS | Page B04

Investigators are trying to determine how a 24-year-old Jersey City woman, a bystander in a spat between a man and his two girlfriends, fell out of a third-floor apartment window Wednesday and cracked her skull, police said.
“Everything indicates that she didn’t want to go out of that window,” Union City Detective Sgt. Maurice Ryan said.
Wanda Colon of 1812 Fifth St. was in critical condition in the intensive care unit at University Hospital in Newark, a hospital spokesman said.
Ryan said the dispute started when Carmen Natal of 2508 Adams Place, Union City, and Jacqueline Casco of 228 Fourth St., Jersey City, found out they had been dating the same man Michael Lugo, 23, of Queens and decided to confront him early Wednesday.
Natal, 24, telephoned Lugo and told him her husband was beating her, Ryan said, adding that Natal is not married. Ryan said that when Lugo arrived at Natal’s place, armed with a gun, he was surprised to find Casco, Colon, and two other women there, along with Natal.
The gun was a catalyst in the ensuing melee, during which Colon fell out of the window, Ryan said. Broken window panes, scratches on her wrist, and her fingernail marks on the sill, showed that Colon struggled to prevent her fall, Ryan said.
Lugo was charged with possession of a weapon and aggravated assault. He was being held in the Hudson County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Keywords: UNION CITY; ACCIDENT; PROBE

YOUTH PULLED FROM RIVER DIES

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, May 26, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A09

A 13-year-old boy pulled from the Hudson River after being submerged for nearly an hour died before dawn Saturday, a Jersey City Medical Center spokeswoman said.
Frank Williams of Jersey City had been swimming with friends in the river, at the foot of Sixth Street near Grundy Park, when he slipped from sight, said city police Lt. Robert Taino.
The friends stopped Police Officer Jack Bennett about 4 p.m. Friday, and told him their friend had disappeared while swimming, Taino said. Bennett called for a rescue team, then flagged down a passing boat, and they began searching for the boy. New York harbor police assisted Jersey City officers in pulling the boy from the river.
Williams was admitted to Jersey City Medical Center in critical condition about 6 p.m. Friday. He was placed on a respirator but died during the night, the hospital spokeswoman said.

Keywords: JERSEY CITY; YOUTH; RIVER; SWIMMING; ACCIDENT; DEATH

FT. LEE MAN INJURED BY CAR HIT AT ROADSIDE PHONE BOOTH

By Michael O. Allen and Caroline Hendrie, Record Staff Writers | Sunday, May 19, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A04

An out-of-control car careered off Sylvan Avenue in Englewood Cliffs on Saturday and smashed into a telephone booth, severely injuring a 49-year-old Fort Lee man.
Kazuo Matsumoto of 8 Buckingham Road was listed in critical condition at University Hospital in Newark, where he was rushed by helicopter after the 12:10 p.m. accident.
The driver, Nathan Andors, 73, of 2200 N. Central Road, Fort Lee, suffered a minor cut to the forehead and was treated at Englewood Hospital and released, police said.
No charges had been filed in connection with the accident as of Saturday evening, said Lt. William Gallagher of the Englewood Cliffs police.
One bystander, who declined to be identified, said that Matsumoto was knocked about 25 feet in the air when the car struck him and that his glasses and shoes flew in different directions.
Andors car, southbound on Sylvan Avenue, uprooted the telephone booth, which was in front of a bus stop about 20 feet from the corner of Bayview Avenue. The car also knocked down a traffic control box, exposing electrical wires, and came to rest with its front end buried in a Public Service Electric and Gas Co. utility pole.
Gallagher said Matsumoto was talking on the phone with a member of his family when the accident occurred.
A University Hospital spokeswoman said that Matsumoto underwent surgery Saturday afternoon and that he was in critical condition when he left the operating room at about 6:30 p.m. Family members visited Saturday evening, said Dorothy Crews, assistant director of nursing.
In a ride that took less than five minutes, Matsumoto was taken to the hospital in the state-owned Northstar emergency medical evacuation helicopter. University Hospital is the only North Jersey medical facility classified as a Level I trauma center, equipped to handle the most serious cases, said John Nichols, a hospital flight medic who treated Matsumoto.
Nichols said the helicopter and its crew were in Somerset for a training seminar when they were summoned at 12:26 p.m. to the accident scene. The helicopter landed on the hospital’s roof at 12:56 p.m.
The Northstar helicopter has been used with increasing frequency in Bergen County recently, but it is still not common for the helicopter to be summoned to the area, Nichols said.
The accident disrupted traffic in both directions on Sylvan Avenue, which is Route 9W.
For about four hours, southbound traffic was diverted onto Route 9W north through the parking lot of the executive offices of the Prentice-Hall publishing company. Northbound traffic was also diverted.
Both northbound lanes were reopened about 3:40 p.m., and one southbound lane was reopened at 4 p.m. The remaining southbound lane was barricaded until about 4:45 p.m. to allow workers to repair electrical wires.

Keywords: FORT LEE; MOTOR VEHICLE; TELEPHONE; ACCIDENT; ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS; VICTIM; KAZUO MATSUMOTO, NATHAN ANDORS

HUDSON COUNTY INVESTIGATOR CHARGED IN AUTO DEATH

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, May 12, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | Edition: All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

An investigator for the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office was charged Saturday with causing death by auto and driving while intoxicated. A passenger in his car died after the vehicle struck a traffic light, then a tree.
Hudson County Prosecutor Paul M. DePascale immediately suspended William Heaney, the 30-year-old investigator.
The front-seat passenger, Gregory Blicharz, 29, of Bayonne, died about 4:45 a.m. Saturday at Bayonne Hospital during treatment for a head injury. DePascale said in a news release announcing Heaney’s suspension that the medical examiner would determine the exact cause of death. It was unknown Saturday when an autopsy would be performed.
Shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday, Heaney’s car left the roadway at Kennedy Boulevard and North Street, police said. They said it struck and knocked over a traffic light, then came to rest against a tree.
Bayonne police administered a Breathalyzer test to Heaney, who lives in Jersey City, and determined that his blood-alcohol level was above the level at which a person is presumed to be too intoxicated to drive, DePascale said in the release. Policy dictates that any case involving a member of the prosecutor’s staff be referred to the state Attorney General’s Office, which DePascale said he would do Monday.

Keywords: HUDSON COUNTY; MOTOR VEHICLE; DEATH; VICTIM; ACCIDENT; ALCOHOL; ABUSE; ATTORNEY; WILLIAM HEANEY; GREGORY BLICHARZ

CHILD DROWNS IN RAIN PUDDLE MOTHER FINDS HIM ATOP COVERED POOL

Byline: By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, April 28, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A03

A 2 1/2-year-old boy drowned Saturday in a puddle of rainwater atop a covered swimming pool in the back yard of his Pine Street home, police said.
Emanual Balseiro was pronounced dead at 11:35 a.m., 50 minutes after paramedics took him to Hackensack Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Police Capt. John Aletta said the drowning was an accident.
Officers Jeff Simone and Ernie Wilczewski, the first to arrive shortly after a 10:14 a.m. call to police, applied mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and other measures, but were unable to revive the boy, Aletta said. Paramedics took over from the officers.
Detective Sgt. Walter Krakowski said the drowning occurred as the family went about a routine that is normal for a Saturday morning in spring: children playing around the house as their parents did yard work.
Salvador Balseiro, the boy’s 63-year-old grandfather, who is visiting with his wife from Valencia, Spain, confirmed that was what happened.
With Myrna Ubides, a cousin of Lucy Balseiro, the boy’s mother, interpreting, the grandfather said: “They were all working around the house when they noticed the kid was missing. He was always around his mother. They thought the boy was upstairs with his sister.”
They started looking around the house when they didn’t find Emanual upstairs, Salvador Balseiro said. That was when the boy’s mother discovered her son.
“The next you heard was the mother screaming,” Krakowski said. “The father jumped into the pool and pulled the baby out.”
The child’s father, Ed Balseiro, and mother were with the family pastor Saturday afternoon, Ubides said. The couple have two other children, Rosio, 11, and Eduardo, 8.

Keywords: CHILD; ACCIDENT; SWIMMING; DEATH; VICTIM; HACKENSACK

COLUMN/SECOND LOOK: THE LANDING ON RUNWAY GWB

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Saturday, April 27, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A02

The George Washington Bridge has been the scene of many suicides, accidents, and odd happenings during its 60-year history. But even after a quarter-century, what happened on Dec. 26, 1965, stuns the imagination.
A teenage pilot landed a plane on the center roadway of the bridge maneuvering the light aircraft through the lowest point of the suspension cables at the center of the span. Phillip Ippolito Jr. said afterward that he was “just plain scared” he wasn’t going to make it.
Ippolito, 19, of the Bronx and Joseph Brennan, 39, of Hackensack took off in the two-seat airplane about 9 a.m. from the Ramapo Valley Airport in Spring Valley., N.Y., where Ippolito was an assistant mechanic.
“Joe was just along for the ride to Red Bank, where I planned to visit with a former flying instructor, and at the same time log some flying time,” the young pilot told a reporter a day after the emergency landing.
As he flew over, Ippolito said, everything was just fine, Brennan was enjoying the view, and traffic on the bridge was quite light possibly because it was a Sunday morning, and the day after Christmas.
Then it happened.
“Just as we were at a point parallel to Times Square, I felt the plane begin to lose power,” Ippolito said. “I banked 180 degrees to the right to head north again. At this point I had no definite plan in mind, I was just plain scared. Then I began thinking of ditching in the river, but there were whitecaps on the water and that meant it would be rough landing. “
When he asked Brennan if he could swim, the Navy veteran of World War II said not only could he not, but he was terrified of water. At that point, Ippolito said, there was just one thing to do land the plane on the bridge.
“As I came over the roadway, I did a left-side slip and after 50 feet I went into a forward slip,” Ippolito said. “This brought the plane directly over the unused roadway, but my flying speed was almost double the normal 40 to 45 mile-an-hour landing speed. I kept worrying about the people on the bridge up until the moment I hit the roadway.”
The plane rolled along the roadway and came to a stop. Although its right wing tip struck a truck and the plane was spun around, Ippolito and Brennan suffered only minor injuries.
Bridge manager Ken Philmus said the current flow of traffic, and the increased volume of traffic, would make it difficult for such a landing to take place today.
Brennan died at age 60 in February 1987. Ippolito’s whereabouts are unknown. Bridge employees who came to the aid of the plane have long since retired or moved on to other careers,
Even Ramapo Valley Airport, where the fateful flight began, is no more, having been turned into an office park.

Keywords: FORT LEE; BRIDGE; AVIATION; ACCIDENT; HISTORY

Caption: 1965 PHOTO – Police preparing to remove the downed aircraft from the bridge.

COPS PROBE CRASH OF TWO POLICE CARS

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, February 3, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

Borough police are investigating the circumstances surrounding a collision between two squad cars.
The crash, at Boulevard and Linden Avenue, occurred about 11:15 p.m. Friday and did not involve a pursuit, said Police Chief Byron G. Morgan.
Morgan declined to identify the officers involved until the conclusion of the investigation, but said they were not injured in the accident.
“Until we have an opportunity to interview both drivers and review the accident report,” Morgan said, “it will be premature to release any information. “
The front end of one squad car and the left rear quarter panel of the other were damaged in the accident, Morgan said. The borough has about 10 squad cars, three of which are in use during each shift.

Keywords: ELMWOOD PARK; POLICE; PROBE; ACCIDENT; MOTOR VEHICLE

Notes: Passaic page

WATER MAIN BREAK FLOODS 2 LODI STREETS

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, January 6, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A05

A break in a 20-inch Hackensack Water Co. main Saturday morning sent a virtual cascade down Terhune Avenue and South Main Street and lowered water pressure in neighboring Wallington.
Joseph M. Natoli, Lodi business administrator, said the break occurred sometime before 1 a.m., but that water pressure in his borough was not affected.
Wallington, however, experienced low water pressure all day, said Bob Siery, borough superintendent of water and public works.
Martha Green, Hackensack Water Co. spokeswoman, said a break occurred on Terhune Avenue, near where her company’s water line connects with the Passaic Valley Water Commission system.
The connection serves Wallington, which buys its water wholesale from Hackensack Water, and resells it to about 2,400 homes and 500 apartment buildings and businesses.

Keywords: WATER; ACCIDENT; UTILITY; LODI; FLOOD

NJ TRANSIT TRAIN KILLS MAN IN MAHWAH

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, December 20, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B03

A man was struck and killed by a northbound NJ Transit train as he was lying on the railroad track Tuesday night, police said.

Mahwah police Lt. Jim Bartelli said police were not ruling the death a suicide at this time, adding that the identification of the victim would be withheld until it could be confirmed with the family. Bartelli gave no description of the victim, other than to say he was Hispanic.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene, Bartelli said.

The engineer of the train, which left Hoboken for Suffern, N.Y., at 10:15 p.m., applied the brakes and sounded a whistle as soon when he saw the man on the track, said Sandra Check, an NJ Transit spokeswoman.

“The person failed to move,” Check said. “There was just no way to stop.”

The accident occurred about 11:21 p.m., about 1 1/4 miles from the Ramsey station, Check said.

None of the 10 passengers and about five NJ Transit employees on the train was injured, Check said.

The passengers were put on a bus and taken to their destinations. The tracks in both directions were closed for about two hours, until emergency vehicles were cleared from the scene.

Bartelli said Mahwah police were trying to determine where the man was going and what he was doing on the track at the time of the accident.

“We have a tentative identity but we are not a hundred percent sure until we speak to next of kin,” he said.

MAN FLEEING COPS STRUCK ON RTE. 4; ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO USE FAKE CREDIT CARD AT BANK

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Wednesday, November 21, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page B01

A man fleeing Paramus police after he tried to get $2,500 from a bank using a fake credit card was struck and badly injured Tuesday when he ran into speeding traffic on Route 4, police said.

The man, who police said was carrying only false identification, underwent surgery at Hackensack Medical Center on Tuesday evening. Paramus Police Chief Joseph Delaney said the man’s legs were shattered and he suffered severe internal injuries when he was struck by a Mercedes-Benz in the fast lane on the westbound side.

“He could have just as easily been killed, the way he ran into the highway,” Delaney said.

“I don’t know how he ever expected to get across the highway, especially at that time, with the traffic across Route 4,” Delaney said. “He probably didn’t see the footbridge. There’s a footbridge right above him on Forest Avenue.”

The chain of events began at about 11:20 a.m. when the man tried to obtain $2,500 from First Fidelity Bank at 10 Forest Ave. with the credit card, police said.

A teller called police, whispering that she needed assistance, Delaney said, but the call was discontinued before the desk officer could ask for more information.

Thinking a bank robbery was in progress, the officer dispatched several cruisers to the bank.

Police Officer Steve Mercer, who saw the man run out of the bank as he arrived at the scene, chased him on foot to the roadway, where the man darted into the traffic, crossing two lanes before he was hit.

Police believed the man drove to the bank and were looking for a car late Tuesday, Delaney said.

Delaney said police later learned that about $4,500 had been obtained from banks in Florida with the credit card, which police said was issued to a fictitious person in Florida.

The chief said the man carried only the Florida identification, “which was obviously fraudulently manufactured,” Delaney said, adding that police would try to establish his identity through fingerprints. “Even at the hospital, when they were asking him questions relative to who he is, where he’s from, he was being extremely evasive. “

Delaney said investigation of the accident caused a backup of the busy lunchtime traffic on Route 4 for about two hours from Forest Avenue to Hackensack Avenue.

The traffic jam caused ancillary roads to River Edge and Hackensack to clog, Delaney said.

Caption: PHOTO – LINDA CATAFFO/THE RECORD – Paramus police collecting evidence around the car that struck a man fleeing from them Tuesday.