DRAG RACING CITED IN FATALITY

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

The Record (New Jersey) | One Star | NEWS | Page B01

North Bergen police Tuesday charged a Plainfield youth and issued a warrant for the arrest of a 27-year-old Jersey City man in connection with a fatal collision that police now say was the result of drag racing.

A Ridgefield woman was killed instantly in the head-on collision Nov. 7, and her mother-in-law remains unconscious and in critical condition from the accident.

The youth, a 17-year-old whom police would not identify because of his age, was charged with death by auto and assault by auto in the crash at 49th Street and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen.
An arrest warrant on the same charges was issued for Antonio Castella of 135A North St. in Jersey City.

Police said Castella was driving with a suspended license, and the youth was driving without a license. Four people were packed into the red 1985 two-seat Porsche that the youth was driving, police said.

The two “wantonly, willfully, and carelessly drove their vehicles . . . with disregard for life or property,” said North Bergen Police Officer George Alburtus. “According to witnesses, they were traveling at a high rate of speed, leaving smoke and screeching tires. “

Carmela Berardo, 49, of 414 Abbott St., Ridgefield was killed instantly when the Porsche crossed into the northbound lane on Tonnelle Avenue and struck the car she was riding in. Michelina Berardo, 69, of the same address, remained Tuesday in St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City with a fractured skull and two broken legs.

The youth, who also was injured in the crash, was in stable condition Tuesday at Jersey City Medical Center.

In all, six cars were involved in the pileup that followed the collision, and six people were injured.

Berardo’s husband, Florindo Berardo, 50, left the hospital Nov. 12 to attend his wife’s funeral.

Berardo, who was driving when the collision occurred, suffered a broken right foot and facial abrasions.

Madeleine M. Sheldrick, 30, a pregnant North Bergen resident, and Tamburas Ortiz, 18, brother of the arrested youth, were treated and released the same day. Allen Betancourt, 19, of Piscataway was released Nov. 14 from Jersey City Medical Center.

“No one is interested in retribution,” De Vito said Tuesday. “We are interested in justice, but justice here pleads out for severe penalties to be imposed and incarceration.

“Words like disgusting, tragic, and senseless don’t even begin to define the horror and the loss to this family. “

The family was returning in two cars from visiting an aunt in Jersey City at about 10:30 on the night of the accident.

The Berardos 27-year-old daughter, Michelle Sosa, who was driving ahead of her parents, said she was stopped at a light at 51st Street when she noticed the Porsche and Castella’s Mustang.

“As soon as the light changed, they pulled out, like, they peeled out so fast that there was smoke and noise and everything,” she said.

“It was just overwhelming how much smoke and noise. And all of a sudden I looked in my rearview mirror. I noticed that the red Porsche was in the opposite side of the lane, in the northbound lane. He must have hit my parents then.”

MAN DIES AFTER CAR CRASHES INTO TREE

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, November 18, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A06

A 21-year-old Brick Township man died Friday from injuries he suffered when he lost control of his car and it ran off the Newark-Pompton Turnpike and struck a tree, police said.

Police believe William J. Bischowff Jr. may have been speeding, said Lt. Donald Stouthamer, commander of the Wayne Police Traffic Bureau, in a statement released Saturday.

Bischowff, a former Wayne resident, was pronouced dead at 11:21 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Paterson, Stouthamer said. He was alone in a 1990 Ford Mustang GTI headed south when the crash occurred on Doig Road at about 10:15 p.m., Stouthamer said.

Notes: Passaic page

ACADEMY CHIEF STILL IN CRITICAL CONDITION

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, November 15, 1990

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

The director of the Bergen County Police and Fire Academy, injured in an accident last week when he lost control of his van and was broadsided by a truck, remained in critical condition at The Valley Hospital Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Ronald Calissi’s condition has stabilized and he is showing improvement, hospital spokeswoman Jackie Welch said, but he is still being monitored in the intensive care unit for multiple injuries he suffered Thursday afternoon in the accident along Sicomac Avenue, not far from his home in Franklin Lakes.

Peter Neillands, Bergen County police chief and director of public safety, said short-term operation of the academy would not change. Scheduled classes are continuing, and Neillands is managing the academy in Calissi’s absence.

Neillands said he had assigned Bertram Kerrigan, chief police instructor, and John Evans, chief fire instructor, to oversee the day-to-day operation of the academy.

Graduations for the corrections officers class on Nov. 21 and for the basic police class on Dec. 14 will take place as scheduled, Neillands said.

Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said the accident occurred when Calissi, eastbound on Sicomac at about 5 p.m. on Nov. 8, passed on the left a vehicle making a right turn. A utility truck was traveling westbound on Sicomac.

Calissi lost control of his 1988 Ford van as he attempted to go back into the eastbound lane, and the truck broadsided the van, Fahy said.

Calissi’s van rolled over onto the passenger side from the force of the impact, and rescue workers had to cut the roof off the van to extricate him.

SECAUCUS MAN, 22, HIT BY POLICE CAR IN HACKENSACK

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, October 7, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A08

A 22-year-old man suffered what hospital officials called multiple trauma after he was struck by a Hackensack police car as he crossed Essex Street in the city early Saturday.

Jaime Fajardo, who Hackensack police said is from Secaucus, was listed in good condition in the surgical intensive care unit of Hackensack Medical Center on Saturday.

The accident occurred about 1:10 a.m. at 370 Essex St., said Patrolman Dennis Parente of the Hackensack Police Department’s traffic division.

“A marked police vehicle was traveling west on Essex Street when, for no apparent reason, a pedestrian ran across the street into the path of the police vehicle, according to a number of witnesses,” Parente said.

Parente said police investigators have talked to six witnesses who supported police conclusions on what occurred.

He said he had been instructed nonetheless not to identify the officer who was driving the patrol car that hit Fajardo.

Parente said the accident report indicated the officer was driving 25 miles per hour when his car struck the pedestrian. The posted speed limit on that section of Essex Street is 30 miles per hour.

On Saturday afternoon, a patron at O’Neil’s Summit Bar & Grill said he was at the bar when the accident occurred, and that Fajardo had not been among the customers.

Cars were parked in front of O’Neil’s Bar, at 362 Essex St., and along the street at the time of the accident, said the man, who declined to identify himself. A few people were walking along Essex Street at the time, but the area wasn’t crowded, he said.

WRONG WAY ON RTE. 46

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, October 6, 1990

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

Later saying he had been fleeing an attacker, the driver of a pickup truck drove the wrong way on Route 46 in Little Ferry and struck a South Hackensack police car that was answering an emergency call, authorities said.

Matt Bialorucki of Passaic told police that he was driving along Main Street in Little Ferry on Thursday night when a man he knew jumped on the back of his truck, hitting the doors and windows several times with a chain.

While attempting to flee, he said, he made a wrong turn onto Route 46, driving his truck west in the eastbound lane.

The truck then collided with a cruiser driven by South Hackensack Patrolman Nicholas Ulliana.

The officer was treated at Hackensack Medical Center for a slight back sprain and released.

Bialorucki and his passenger, John Ohagen, were not injured.

Police said the two men later signed complaints of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Robert Jackson of 33 Aspen Place, Passaic.

Jackson had jumped off the truck before the crash and fled in another vehicle, police said.

No charges were filed by police against Bialorucki.

DRIVER PULLED FROM WRECK, THEN CHARGED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, September 30, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A07

A 33-year-old borough woman whose car hit a parked car early Saturday morning and burst into flames was pulled from the wreck by a policeman and a firefighter, authorities said.

Sandra L. Slockett of Center Avenue was rescued at about 1:30 a.m. by firefighter Albert Van Houten Jr. and Patrolman Michael Smith.

“When we got to the car, it was totally involved, and the driver was trapped in the vehicle,” said Midland Park Fire Chief Albert Van Houten Sr.

“Another 30 seconds, and it would have been too late. “

Van Houten said his son and Smith grabbed the door of the car, forced it open, and rescued Slockett, whom the chief described as semiconscious.

He said the accident occurred at 66 Bank St., a few doors from his home.

Slockett had been driving west on the street when the accident occurred, the chief said. He and his son left their house and headed down the street when they heard the fire alarm.

Police charged Slockett with careless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving with a suspended license.

A police spokesman said Slockett, who refused medical treatment when she was taken to The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood after the accident, told police she would return to the hospital later Saturday for treatment.

ENGLEWOOD PILOT KILLED IN N.Y. ACCIDENT; PLANE CRASHES INTO HILLTOP LAKE IN FOG

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, September 21, 1990

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

A 44-year-old Englewood man who was trying to land his plane in dense fog and rain at an upstate New York airport was killed Wednesday when the plane crashed into a hilltop lake.

Divers removed the body of Mark Jacob Pressburger, 44, from the bottom of Sand Pond near Callicoon at about 2 p.m. Thursday.

Trooper Robert Gillespie, a spokesman for the New York State Police, said Pressburger was flying to meet his wife at the Concord Resort Hotel in Kiamesha Lake, N.Y., on Wednesday night.

Gillespie said Pressburger was apparently thrown clear of the aircraft when it shattered into three pieces as it hit the water.

“It appeared he was the only person on the plane,” Gillespie said. “They located his body at the bottom of the lake, near the wreckage of the plane.”

Greg Feith, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said the Piper Apache took off from Teterboro Airport at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

As Pressburger approached Sullivan County Airport in White Lake, he had trouble attempting a landing on his first pass, Feith said, and was told to circle around and climb to 4,000 feet.

Airport officials and investigators reported that visibility in the area was poor due to dense fog and rain, and that the cloud cover was at 300 feet.

Pressburger, who an official said was co-owner of Bergen Wholesale Meats in Hackensack, acknowledged the instructions. Shortly afterward, at around 5:45 p.m., air controllers lost radio and radar contact with the plane in the Sand Pond area, about 11 miles northwest of the airport.

Gillespie said police began receiving calls reporting a crash shortly after 6 p.m. Searchers that night found debris from the plane, he said, but could not find the plane itself.

On Thursday morning, the searchers returned to Sand Pond Lake and found an oil slick that led them to the wreckage.

Feith said it might take weeks to determine the cause of the crash.

This article contains material from The Associated Press.

Caption: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO – Divers returning ashore after finding the body of a pilot whose plane crashed Wednesday night in a Sullivan County, N.Y., lake.

4-CAR COLLISION SHUTS ROUTE 208

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, September 14, 1990

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

Two motorists were hospitalized and a section of Route 208 in Franklin Lakes was closed for more than four hours Thursday morning after a rush-hour accident.

Police said a rear-end collision between two cars in a northbound lane sent one of the cars careening into two vehicles in the southbound lanes.

Franklin Lakes traffic officer William Colligan said the accident occurred at about 7:15 a.m. He described the scene as a “mess.”

“Route 208 is a major highway and it occurred at rush hour, so you can imagine how backed up traffic was,” Colligan said. “But we had sufficient police to divert the traffic to county roads” and get motorists “to where they wanted to go.”

Three of the four drivers were injured, and two were hospitalized.

Carl Bayer, 47, of Ringwood suffered multiple fractures and was in stable condition at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, and Frank Miller, 22, of Dumont was in good condition at Hackensack Medical Center with minor injuries.

A 26-year-old woman police did not identify was treated at The Valley Hospital and released. The fourth motorist, George Frey, 34, of Hewitt, was not hurt.

Authorities said the woman was driving a Chevette that struck Miller’s Lincoln Continental as it was traveling north near Ewing Avenue.

The Lincoln went across the grassy median, struck Bayer’s Ford Thunderbird, spun around, and was struck by Frey’s Chevrolet Blazer.

Colligan said Route 208 around the Ewing Avenue exit was closed to traffic until 11:30 a.m. so investigators could gather evidence.

Two police officers from Oakland, three from Wyckoff, and members of the Bergen County Police Department helped divert traffic.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, the county police, and the Franklin Lakes detective bureau are investigating.

Colligan said that although investigations were still at a preliminary stage, he did not expect criminal charges or summonses to be issued.

Caption: PHOTO – PETER MONSEES / THE RECORD – Wreckage blocking the southbound lanes of Route 208 in Franklin Lakes on Thursday. Three of the four drivers involved were injured.

2 CHARGED IN CITY BURGLARIES

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Friday, September 7, 1990

The Record (New Jersey) | Four Star B | NEWS | Page A01

Two homeless men were charged with three city burglaries after police caught one of them after he emerged from a second-floor window with stolen money, police said.

Pedro Cordeiro, 20, and Frank Hidalgo, 22, were to be sent to the Bergen County Jail on Thursday on $2,500 bail.

Cordeiro was caught stepping onto a ladder after emerging from the window of a Hudson Street home. He was found with $154.90 allegedly stolen from the residence. Officers Richard Melber and Vincent Pedone had come to the home after receiving a call about a suspicious person about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Cordeiro’s alleged accomplice, Hidalgo, fled when he saw the officers. They captured him about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

The men admitted stealing a 21-inch color television from a Lodi Street home last week and $50 and an unknown quantity of cigarettes from a Hudson Street store two weeks ago, said Capt. Emil Canestrino.

The two were charged with burglary and theft.