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

BURGLARY SUSPECT MAY NOT HAVE DROWNED

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, April 20, 1991

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

A burglary suspect thought to have drowned after he leaped off a bridge into the Passaic River after a police chase may have escaped, police said Friday.
Police have developed new information that Herbert Pitts of 43 Graham Ave., Paterson, may have been seen running down a nearby highway ramp after the jump, police Lt. Ron Natale said.
“We combed the river thoroughly Wednesday and again yesterday,” Natale said. “We didn’t find any body. We are not absolutely positive that he did go into the river. We believe he may have, but there is a chance he did escape. Right now, we’ll continue on the assumption that Pitts is somewhere out there, possibly alive.”
A suspect in custody, Tyrone Jones, 28, of Paterson identified Pitts, 32, from a photograph as a suspect involved in the chase, which led to the drowning death of Terry Wilson, 25, also of Paterson.
The incident began Wednesday afternoon at the scene of a burglary in Hackensack. With Hackensack, Lodi, and Elmwood Park police pursuing, the suspects fled in a stolen van, weaving through traffic on Routes 46, 20, and 80 before crashing in the eastbound Route 80 lanes in Elmwood Park.
The men abandoned the van and ran across the highway, and Pitts and Wilson leaped 50 feet off the bridge into the river, near Market Street. Wilson’s body was later pulled from the river. Jones, who did not jump and was caught, was being held in the Bergen County Jail Annex on $100,000 bail.
Jones, charged by Hackensack police with 11 counts of theft, five counts of burglary, and one count each of receiving stolen property and resisting arrest, cooperated with investigators, giving them information on burglaries in Carlstadt, Fair Lawn, Maywood, Wyckoff, and other Bergen County communities.

Keywords: HACKENSACK; BRIDGE; BURGLARY; RIVER; MISSING PERSON; DEATH; VICTIM

HAWORTH MAN, TWO RELATIVES DROWN IN FLA.; HIS CAR PLUNGED INTO ROADSIDE CANAL

By Michael O. Allen and John Mooney, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, January 27, 1991

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

A 71-year-old Haworth man, his daughter, and his grandson drowned after their car veered off a Florida highway, tore through a fence, and plunged into a 35-foot-deep canal, police said.
Emanuel “Manny” Morgan of 854 Sunset Ave., Haworth; his 37-year-old daughter, Arlene Kepp of Naples, Fla.; and his 4-year-old grandson, Steven Kepp, were buried in Naples Wednesday, said a spokeswoman for the funeral home that handled the arrangements.
Autopsies by the Collier County Medical Examiner’s office revealed that all three drowned in the Monday accident, said a spokeswoman for the office.
Morgan owned Martin Furniture store in West New York for 42 years and was known for his charitable work there and in other communities. He was a Navy veteran of World War II.
His son Stewart Morgan said Friday that Morgan had donated lots of time and money to local synagogues.
“He did a lot of charity work that he never told anyone about,” said Morgan, who with his brother Neil also works at the furniture store.
“For 15 years on every single Christmas, my father gave out gifts to senior citizens in West New York. He just didn’t want anyone to be forgotten. “
The incident occurred while the elder Morgan was traveling from Miami Beach to Naples with his 63-year-old wife, Jeanette, and his daughter and grandson, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The Morgans had recently purchased a condominium in Miami Beach.
Jeanette Morgan was driving the 1989 Ford station wagon about 3:30 p.m. Monday and was westbound on Alligator Alley, or State Road 93, when the car veered onto the shoulder, a police spokeswoman said.
Police said Morgan panicked and grabbed the steering wheel, causing his wife to lose control of the car. The vehicle went through a 12-foot-high fence separating the road from the canal, plunging into the recently deepened waters.
Jeanette Morgan, who swam to safety, was treated at Naples Community Hospital for minor injuries and was released Tuesday, said hospital spokeswoman Debbie Curry.

Keywords: HAWORTH; FLORIDA; DEATH; VICTIM; ACCIDENT; MOTOR VEHICLE; RIVER

BUS FIRM CITED FOR POLLUTING RIVER

By Michael O. Allen, Record Staff Writer | Saturday, January 5, 1991

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

The state has cited a borough bus company for polluting the Saddle River after state police Thursday found motor oil draining from the company’s parking lot into the river, officials said.
The civil citations against Saddle River Tours Ltd. at 119 Graham Lane were filed by state police and the state Department of Environmental Protection, spokesmen for both agencies said Friday.
A unit of the state police Marine Investigation Bureau, while on routine patrol of the Saddle River about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, found a large amount of oil running into a drainpipe along the parking lot that emptied into the river, state police spokesman Capt. Thomas Gallagher said.
While checking for the source of the oil, the marine police unit also found oil running through a hookup from the parking lot into the borough sewer system, officials said.
Sgt. Kevin J. Harnett of the Bergen County Police Emergency Management Unit, who also responded to the scene, said the environmental crime unit of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating possible criminal violations by the company.
Gallagher said the state police contacted the Lodi Police and Fire departments and the Prosecutor’s Office because of the hookup into the sewer line.
County Prosecutor John J. Fahy said he could not comment on the matter.
Representatives of Saddle River Tours could not be reached for comment Friday.
Bruce Doyle, an emergency response specialist with the DEP, said the department’s division of hazardous waste management will oversee the cleanup and remedial measures to be taken by Saddle River Tours.

Keywords: LODI; BUS; BUSINESS; RIVER; OIL; CRIME; ENVIRONMENT

N.J.-CRUISING WHALE IS ESCORTED BACK TO SEA

By Michael O. Allen and Joan Verdon, Record Staff Writers | Thursday, November 22, 1990

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

A humpback whale with an unusual affinity for New Jersey waters was given a police escort out of the state Wednesday, after a brief visit to Newark Bay and the Hackensack River.

Whales commonly swim past the Jersey shore on their way to the coastal waters of Maine, but the 30- to 35-foot humpback with a black body and white flippers apparently likes the Garden State, said Bob Schoelkopf, director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine.

Schoelkopf, who helped the state police marine unit guide the whale through New York Harbor on Wednesday, said the same whale visited the Delaware, Raritan, and Shark rivers two years ago.

The wayward whale was first spotted swimming up the Hackensack River on Tuesday afternoon by workers at a Public Service Electric and Gas Co. generating plant in Jersey City. Marine police boats did not spot the mammal again until 7:30 a.m. still in the Hackensack River.

Officer Bryan Stillwell of the state police marine patrol said police boats and workers from the Stranding Center formed a semicircle around the whale and revved their engines to encourage the animal, who risked being grounded as he swam up river, to move seaward.

The whale was escorted through the Kill Van Kull and New York Harbor and past the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.