TWINS MAKE DEBUT ON ROAD; Mom Has Special Delivery

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, April 23, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | B01

“Honey, I’m probably still going to be pregnant when you get home tonight,” Blanche Sabatini assured her husband Wednesday morning when he hesitated before going to work.

An hour after Alex Sabatini left, his wife began a ride she’ll never forget.

Twins Dana Marie and Alexander Jr. were born to Sabatini in an ambulance on the way to the Hackensack Medical Center.

“It was very exciting,” the 37-year-old Rutherford woman said several hours later. “It just feels great to hold them.”

It was quite a day for the ambulance crew, too. “Honestly, I can’t explain it. It’s just a very different and heartwarming experience,” said Ellie Cosley, captain of the Rutherford Ambulance Squad.

Sabatini said she had been worried because she had heard twins are often born early, and hers were four days overdue.

But mother and infants were in excellent condition after the unusual deliveries, said Dr. Shaul Yarkoni, director of the medical center’s obstetrics and gynecology unit.

Cosley said the ambulance squad responded to Sabatini’s call at about 8:30 a.m.

Dana Marie at 5 pounds, 5 ounces was born on Route 17 at 9:02 a.m., and Alexander Jr. at 7 pounds, 3 ounces arrived at 9:07 a.m. in the ambulance after it pulled into the emergency room parking lot.

Zach Weissman, a Hackensack Medical Center paramedic, delivered Dana Marie with help from Cosley and squad members Mary Melfa and Roseanne Mesisco.

Yarkoni met the ambulance at the hospital, where he delivered Alex with the aid of paramedic Eric Kudlack.

The Sabatinis, who have been married for 17 years, have two other children: Nicole, 10, and Vincent, 2.

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – Blanche Sabatini of Rutherford resting Wednesday at Hackensack Medical Center with her new twins Alexander Jr., left, and Dana Marie. Sabatini is flanked by paramedics Eric Kudlack, left, and Zach Weissman. In the back row, from left, were Ellie Cosley, Rutherford Ambulance Squad captain, and squad members Roseanne Mesisco and Mary Melfa. – LINDA CATAFFO / THE RECORD

SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR PAIR

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, August 25, 1991

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

A routine call to pick up a dialysis patient Saturday morning turned joyous for two emergency medical technicians and a couple whose baby girl they helped deliver in the Holy Name Hospital parking lot.
Frank Sapienza and Carl Putkowski Jr. of Adamo Medical Services in Pompton Plains were at the back of an ambulance about 10:25 a.m. preparing to take a 79-year-old Garfield man home when a car screeched into the lot.
An agitated man came running out of his car toward the men. “My wife, my wife, she is having a baby,” the man said to Putkowski.
Sapienza and Putkowski, neither of whom had delivered a baby before, ran to the car.
At 10:30 a.m., in the back of a blue Ford Taurus, they assisted in the birth of an 8-pound, 3-ounce girl.
“It was an experience beyond belief,” Putkowski said. “It’s such a heartwarming feeling, to bring a life into the world. That is just something spectacular.”
A nursing supervisor at the hospital confirmed the men’s exploits but was unable to provide additional information on the birth or the family.

Keywords: TEANECK; BABY; PEQUANNOCK; GARFIELD; AMBULANCE; RESCUE

2 TEENS STABBED, BABY ABDUCTED EX-BOYFRIEND OF A VICTIM HELD

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Thursday, April 18, 1991

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

A 19-year-old Brooklyn man was arrested Wednesday minutes after he stabbed two teenagers, one of them his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend, and abducted his and the girl’s baby from a North Bergen apartment, police said.
One victim, a 17-year-old Brooklyn boy, was in serious but stable condition at Palisades General Hospital in North Bergen, a spokesman said. The girl was not seriously injured, police said, but was to be kept overnight at the hospital for observation. Police withheld the victims names because of their ages.
The 2-month-old baby was unharmed.
The suspect, Courtney Wiltshire, was held on $15,000 bail in the Hudson County Jail, North Bergen Lt. Timothy Kelly said.
Police had not yet interviewed the victims late Wednesday, but said it appeared Wiltshire attacked them at a Durham Avenue apartment where the girl lives with her mother and the baby. Police would not comment Wednesday on the motive for the attack.
Police were alerted to the incident by phone calls from the two victims, said Kelly, who gave the following account:
The 17-year-old called about 11:30 a.m., saying he had been stabbed. A few minutes later, after Wiltshire had left, the 16-year-old girl called from the apartment. She, too, said she had been stabbed, and that the father of her daughter had forcibly taken the child.
Officer Michael Darin found the 17-year-old at a pay phone at 67th Street and Newkirk Avenue. He had been stabbed twice in the chest, once in the shoulder, and once in the back.
A search began for Wiltshire that eventually involved 13 squad cars, including four from West New York.
North Bergen Officer Lorenzo Paret spotted Wiltshire about 11:50 a.m. at 65th Street and Hudson Avenue in West New York. When Paret approached him and began asking him questions, Wiltshire threw up his hands and said: “I know what you want. The baby is in the store. “
Wiltshire had gone into the Latino Supermarket with the baby and bought some juice, telling the storekeeper to watch the infant for a moment.
The baby was found in the store and placed in the custody of the state Division of Youth and Family Services after being examined at Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus.
Wiltshire was charged with two counts of aggravated assault, burglary, unlawful possession of a weapon, and criminal restraint.

Keywords: NORTH BERGEN; ASSAULT; KIDNAPPING; BABY

DAD HELD AFTER COPS FIND CHILD IN MALL LOT

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, March 1, 1991

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

A 39-year-old Bronx man was charged Thursday with endangering the life of a child after two Hackensack youth officers found his 16-month-old son alone and crying in a van parked at the Riverside Square Mall.
Goodwin Chow, also charged with disorderly conduct, was being held in the Bergen County Jail on $75,000 bail.
The toddler had been in the van for at least two hours when Sgt. Frank Lomia and Police Officer John Carroll found him at about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday, Hackensack Police Chief William C. Iurato said.
“When I took him out of the van, he appeared in general good health, but he was cold,” Lomia said. “His clothing was really poor, and his diapers hadn’t been changed in a while. “
The child was taken by ambulance to the Hackensack Medical Center, where he was treated before being released to the custody of the state Division of Youth and Family Services, police said.
A DYFS spokeswoman said she was prohibited by law from acknowledging any investigation that the agency might be involved in.
Lomia said the officers were on patrol when Carroll noticed the white 1973 Ford van bearing New York license plates and covered with graffiti.
“We checked it out because it looked so out of place sitting in front of the restaurant,” Lomia said. “Then, when we checked further, we found the boy. “
Raphie Gutierrez, a manager at Au Bon Pain restaurant, where Chow arrived about 8 p.m. to repair an oven, said the last time Chow came to work at the restaurant, about a month ago, he brought the boy in with him. The boy was awake and stayed with employees in the back of the restaurant, he said.
On Wednesday, Chow “was going back and forth [to the parking lot] every five minutes,” Gutierrez said. “We didn’t know why until later. “
The boy, wrapped in a grease-stained jacket and in the front passenger seat, began crying when Carroll and Lomia arrived at the van, Iurato said. Mall security officers, dispatched to look for the van’s owner in nearby businesses, arrived with Chow as the officers were about to smash in the window to get to the child, Iurato said. He said Chow became defensive and was uncooperative with the officers.
“He refused to open the van or give us the key. The key had to be forcibly taken from him,” Lomia said.
Chow told police that the boy has a mother but no other relative. Police were searching for her Thursday, Lomia said.

Keywords: NEW YORK CITY; BABY; HACKENSACK; MOTOR VEHICLE; ABUSE

BABY LEFT IN CAR IN WALDWICK

MICHAEL O. ALLEN | Sunday, December 9, 1990

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

Two passers-by discovered a 4-month-old baby lying alone in a Jeep on a freezing night last week, and police charged the baby’s mother with neglect after they found her inside a bar.

Debra Cuneo, 23, of Greenwood Lake, N.Y., was arrested shortly after the baby was found at 2 a.m. Thursday outside the Celtic Pub. She was released Friday on $10,000 bail.

Police said the baby, a boy, had been in the Jeep for several hours. The temperature was below 30 degrees. The baby was treated at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and released to the custody of his grandparents after police notified the state Division of Youth and Family Services, police said.