MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Ridgewood

Living ‘Black’ in the United States of America

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And living to tell the tales.

Traffic was heavy on Route 17 in Hasbrouck Heights on my way home to Ridgewood, NJ, after work on Wednesday, which wasn’t exactly news. But, as I approached a stretch where Route 46 and Interstate 80 go over Route 17, traffic eased and I saw the reason why. Rubbernecking motorists.

What were they looking at?

A black man with both hands on top of his head standing in front of a white police officer on the grassy area next to the shoulder. The cop’s car, lights flashing, and another car in front of it were parked on the shoulder. Unlike Alton Sterling on Tuesday or Philando Castile on Wednesday, this black man stopped by a white cop was still alive.

James Eagan Holmes, heavily armed, killed 12 and injured 70 people in a Colorado theater and was captured alive. Dylann Roof killed nine churchgoers in South Carolina and was captured alive. Jason Dalton killed six and injured two in Kalamazoo. His life was preserved as he was being arrested.

Cedric Chatman. Tamir Rice. Laquan McDonald. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Black men make up 6% of U.S. population; are 40% of people killed by police.

He’s lucky to be alive, I thought as I drove on. Was that too sanguine a response to the situation?

Jesse Williams Speaking out

I am not taking the situation lightly. I’ve lived long enough to be a middle-aged black male despite too many tangles with cops, both in the United States of America and elsewhere, to do that. But, as these killings pile up, becoming more and more common each day, I’ve long realized that I’ve been lucky to still be alive to tell tales of encounters with cops.

My narrow escape from racist Afrikaners in 1994, while on assignment for the New York Daily News in South Africa, is an entirely different story that will be told a different day. Not today. Also, it’s available on the Internet for anyone curious enough to want to find out.

St. Louis, MO in the ’80’s

A police car pulled up behind my car as I eased into traffic after a college friend and I left a bar late one night many years ago. He pulled me over. The cop came up to the car, peered in, then instructed me to step out. I did. He said that he had stopped me for suspected drunk driving because he had observed me weaving in and out of traffic. I protested that I did no such thing and that, in any case, I couldn’t be drunk driving since I had not been drinking.

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July 9, 2016
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The last rally

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I voted at 8:37 a.m. today in Ridgewood, N.J. I did not have any problem whatsoever. Meanwhile, the video above was Sen. Barack Obama addressing more than 60,000 supporters in the last rally before today’s voting.

Update: A friend sent me e-mail saying “I got out early and voted. I was there almost and hour early and when they opened the doors there were several hundred people in line.”

Another friend, Jim Sleeper, wrote about his experience here: “Polling places in New York City open at 6:00 am, and when I arrived at mine at 5:45 a.m. at least 600 people were on line, stretching from the school door near East 33rd Street and Third Avenue back to the end of the block on Second Avenue, and then down the avenue to 32nd Street. By the time I left after casting my vote, at 6:45 or so, it had grown light out, and there were at least another 600 people waiting on line.”

Continue . . .

November 4, 2008
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2 HAWTHORNE TEENS STILL IN HOSPITAL INJURED IN WEATHER-RELATED CRASH

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By Michael O. Allen and Gregory Beals, Record Staff Writers | Wednesday, March 18, 1992

The Record (New Jersey) | 4 Star | NEWS | B03

Two Hawthorne teenagers remained hospitalized from injuries in what police say was a weather-related, head-on collision in the village last week.

Edward Mullins III, 17, the driver of one of the cars, was in fair condition at Hackensack Medical Center on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said.

His passenger and classmate at Hawthorne High School, Corinne Dockray, 14, was in stable condition in the surgical intensive care unit with head injuries at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, a spokesman said. A helicopter took Dockray to the hospital after the accident on March 11, police said.

Two of Mullins other passengers, and the driver of the other car and her passenger, suffered minor injuries. Treated at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and released were Patrick Murphy, 17, and Allison Taylor, 14, both of whom were riding in Mullins car; Judith M. De Boer, 42, the driver of the other car; and Kirk De Boer, whose age and relationship to Judith De Boer were unavailable.

Murphy and Mullins have been friends since the age of 7, when they began playing football together, said Theresa Murphy, mother of Patrick Murphy. Both are members of the Hawthorne High School football team. Mullins is a halfback, Murphy an outside linebacker.

Murphy suffered a few abrasions to the face and required a few stiches, his mother said, adding that he was in shock after the accident and was deeply concerned about Mullins.

“It was very upsetting,” said Theresa Murphy, a 17-year Hawthorne resident. “He didn’t go to school for two days. He’s been at his buddy’s all the time.”

Mullins father, Edward Mullins, said: “My family, my friends, and my faith have kept me going. We are very, very positive right now.”

Students at Hawthorne High School have been kept advised of the condition of their injured classmates. One student said announcements have been made over the public address system.

Mullins had been traveling eastbound on Godwin Avenue about 6:45 p.m. last Wednesday when his car moved into the path of oncoming traffic and struck De Boer’s car at a bend in the road, according to the police report.

Ridgewood Police Capt. Louis Mader on Tuesday attributed the accident to the weather, saying it had snowed and there was a patch of ice in the roadway where the accident occurred.

Richard Sperito, the assistant superintendent of schools in Hawthorne, said: “Unfortunately, I think a lot of times when this happens we say, `Oh, they were speeding, or `Oh, they were drinking. But that was not the case here. It could have happened to you or me.”

Correction: Allison Taylor, one of the six Hawthorne residents injured last week in an accident in Ridgewood, remained in the hospital Friday and was in good condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. A story in Wednesday’s editions said she had been released from the hospital. Also, the name of one of the injured was misspelled. She is Corin Dockray. (PUBLISHED, SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1992, PAGE a02.)

ID: 17371731 | Copyright © 1992, The Record (New Jersey)

March 18, 1992
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PSYCHIATRIC DEFENSE UNCERTAIN FOR POST OFFICE MURDER SUSPECT

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Sunday, October 13, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A20

Joseph M. Harris is one of six inmates in the Bergen County Jail and its annex who have been convicted or accused of murder.

Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune said Harris is being kept on suicide watch in a single cell in the mental ward in the annex. Other than that, the living arrangements for Harris will be no different from anyone else’s in the jail, Terhune said.

Harris has had one visitor: a cousin who declined to discuss the visit, made on Friday, and asked that he not be identified. The sheriff confirmed that the cousin was the only visitor.

Harris journey through the courts has barely begun, and will be a long one.

“What we are doing is preparing the case for a grand jury, and, in addition, this case is one that we have to decide whether or not to ask for the death penalty. We have not made that decision yet,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John J. Fahy.

“He has not asserted any kind of psychiatric defense. He may. That’s his right,” Fahy said.

In readying the case for presentation to a grand jury, investigators are seeking to determine how and where Harris amassed the arsenal he took to the Ridgewood post office. He carried a .22-caliber gun that can be purchased legally, but it was equipped with an illegal silencer. The Uzi and MAC submachine guns he also carried could have been purchased legally in New Jersey prior to May 31, when they were outlawed as part of a state ban on assault weapons.

Investigators also will be checking Harris telephone records, as well as those of the families and friends of his victims.

Fahy said he expected an indictment in six to eight weeks.

“There’s no doubt this is the worst murder I’ve seen since I’ve been a prosecutor,” Fahy said. “The scary thing is that it could have been a lot worse. ”

Keywords: WAYNE; RIDGEWOOD; MURDER; MAIL; EMPLOYMENT; MENTAL; HEALTH

ID: 17357983 | The Record (New Jersey)

October 13, 1991
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AFTER THE KILLING SPREE, SUICIDE WATCH FOR SUSPECT

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By Bill Sanderson and Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writers | Saturday, October 12, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | All Editions | NEWS | Page A01

Joseph M. Harris, the fired postal worker accused of killing four people early Thursday, was under a suicide watch Friday in a single cell in the Bergen County Jail’s mental health ward, said Bergen County Sheriff Jack Terhune.

Harris, 35, of Paterson was being held on $1 million bail on charges of killing his former supervisor and her boyfriend in their Wayne home, and of later killing two employees at the Ridgewood post office. He surrendered to a SWAT team Thursday morning.

Harris was armed with two machine guns, several hand grenades, a samurai sword, and homemade pipe bombs when he was arrested.

Investigators were not sure Friday where Harris obtained his guns, or whether he had any gun permits. John J. Fahy, the Bergen County prosecutor, said two of Harris three weapons Uzi and MAC-10 semiautomatic rifles were assault weapons banned under a 1990 New Jersey law.

When the case is presented to a grand jury, the weapons offenses could be added to the list of charges against Harris, which include four counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping, and possession of hand grenades.

Fahy said he may seek the death penalty against Harris. He said he will ask prosecutors and investigators for advice on the matter, and that he would also consider psychiatric evidence from Harris defense lawyers.

A state medical examiner’s autopsy of Carol Ott, Harris former supervisor, shows she was stabbed four to six times in the upper body. The other victims Cornelius Kasten Jr., Johannes M. VanderPaauw, and Donald McNaught were gunshot victims.

Keywords: RIDGEWOOD; WAYNE; MURDER; MAIL; EMPLOYMENT; BERGEN COUNTY; PRISON

Caption: COLOR PHOTO – ED HILL / THE RECORD – Postal officer in Ridgewood Friday. Sign reads: “We thank you for your condolences at this difficult time. Please do not ask the window clerks any questions regarding the events of yesterday. Thank you.”

ID: 17357969 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

October 12, 1991
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KILLER’S HOME WAS WELL-KNOWN; HIS NEIGHBORS HAD COMPLAINED

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By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Friday, October 11, 1991

The Record (New Jersey) | 1 Star | NEWS Page A11

Type: PROFILE

The white brick and stucco home at Derrom and 14th avenues where Joseph M. Harris lived has been inspected many times by city zoning officials following complaints by neighbors that it was an illegal rooming house.
Neighbors standing outside Thursday as police entered and left sounded the same complaints, saying blaring horns, loud arguments, and fights at the house often punctuated the evenings. Harris is accused of killing four people during a murderous spree early Thursday morning.
City records show zoning officials began receiving complaints that the home was an illegal rooming house in 1985, zoning officer Thomas Shadiack said Thursday. “We went out there and found there were two rooms in the basement that were rented out,” he said.
Marianna Costa of Haledon owns the stately, spacious home where Harris lived in a second-floor room, above a kitchen at the back of the house.
The house has five bedrooms, five baths, and parquet floors throughout, Costa said. There are two fireplaces, one cobblestone and the other green marble, and one room has a bar with leather trimming and stainless steel fixtures.
Costa bought the house more than a decade ago for her daughter, but a year or so later the daughter decided to move and Costa made an option-to-buy agreement with Carmen Johnson, who put $2,000 down and agreed to pay several hundred dollars a month toward the purchase.
The city cited both Costa and Johnson for illegal conversion of the house to a rooming house after the September 1985 inspection, Shadiack said. Costa convinced a judge that Johnson was responsible for the house, he said, and Johnson pleaded guilty to the charge. She was fined $1,000, plus $25 in court costs.
Records show that zoning officials, responding to more complaints by neighbors, went to the house five times between February 1987 and June 1989 and asked for an affidavit listing the occupants of the house in October 1988. The city sent several letters to Costa and Johnson as a result of those inspections, but no legal action was taken.
Johnson on Thursday denied the home was a rooming house and said all those living there were related to her and didn’t pay rent.
In a Dec. 12, 1988, affidavit, filed by her lawyer, Clifford S. Hinds of Paterson, Johnson listed the following as occupants: herself, her husband, Earl; sons, Archie and Herman Burrell; daughter, Christine McDonald; and husband’s nephew, Harris.

Keywords: PATERSON; RIDGEWOOD; MAIL; EMPLOYMENT; SHOOTING; MURDER; JOSEPH M. HARRIS

Caption: (Early editions only) PHOTO – ED HILL / THE RECORD – Members of a police bomb squad on Thursday leaving the home at 215 Derrom Ave. in Paterson where Joseph M. Harris lived.

ID: 17357902 | Copyright © 1991, The Record (New Jersey)

October 11, 1991
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