Roselle Park rumble draws police from seven

PAGE 8 — THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2011
LOCALSOURCE.COM
UNION COUNTY LOCALSOURCE
Roselle Park rumble draws police from seven towns
A group of residents started
the New Year on the wrong
foot when a celebration at a
local eatery disintegrated into
hand-to-hand combat only an
hour into 2011.
At approximately 1:11 a.m.,
Roselle Park Police 'received
numerous calls reporting a
large fight in progress at the
Solar Do Minho restaurant and
banquet manor, located at 147
West Westfield Ave.
Arriving at the scene, officers were directed to a basement level ballroom party
where they observed a large
crowd engaged in a tumultuous
brawl. The crowd did not cooperate with the officers' instructions to clear away from the
area and a large contingent of
patrons started to close in on
the officers, who were soon
surrounded by the raging mob.
Additional officers arrived to
help break up the fight.
However at this time, police
were informed by employees
that other smaller, individual
fights were breaking out in a
separate upstairs party.
At this point Roselle Park
officers called for backup to
help control the mob. Mutual
aid assistance arrived . in the
form of police officers from
Clark, Cranford, Hillside,
Kenilworth,
Linden
Roselle, Union County and
Union.
Police urged patrons to collect their belongings and disperse, but rowdy behavior persisted.
Officer Richard Gaylord
repeatedly ordered one male to
stop fighting. This man, identified as Paulo F. Santiago, 41, of
Linden, ignored these orders
and was placed under arrest by
Gaylord. Santiago began to
violently struggle with the
arresting officer, resulting in
both he and Gaylord falling to
the floor.
As Santiago continued to
resist arrest, a female identified
as his wife, Agata Pena,
grabbed Gaylord around the
neck and pulled on his police
radio cord in an attempt to drag
him off of her husband. Pena
was seized by Patrolman
Michael Wielgus and placed
under arrest. Santiago was
eventually subdued and handcuffed with the assistance of
Detective Assad and other officers on scene.
Santiago was charged with
disorderly conduct, resisting
arrest and assault on police.
Pena was charged with disorderly conduct, obstruction of
the administration of law and
attempt to cause bodily injury
to another.
POLICE BLOTTER
Three Roselle Park police
officers
sustained minor
injuries in the rumble.
Roselle Park Chief Paul W.
Morrison issued a statement
thanking all the responding
agencies for their assistance.
"This was a situation that
could have been much worse
for all involved," Morrison
said. "Unfortunately, three of
our officers sustained minor
injuries due to the actions of a
few, but due to the prompt
response from surrounding
agencies this situation was kept
under control and no one else
was injured. Those charged
with violating the law will be
appropriately prosecuted."
Roselle Park
Officers
responding were Detective
Hussam Assad, Patrolmen
Richard Gaylord, Michael
Wielgus, Robert Harms,
Edward Nortrup and Nicholas
Vaughan.
Clark
• Taharah Morris, 32; Shaneke
Barrett, 18; Myasia Wilcher, 23
and Michael Gibson, 21, all of
Brooklyn, NY, were arrested on
Central Avenue. Morris was
charged with shoplifting, credit
card fraud and conspiracy. Barrett
was charged with credit card fraud
and conspiracy. Wilcher was
charged with conspiracy. Gibson
was charged with credit card
fraud.
The arrest was made by Officers Christian Lott and George
Marmarou.
• Preston Fletcher, 22, of Hillside, was arrested on Dec. 23 at
8:53 p.m. on Valley Road and
charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance. The
arrest was made by Officer Christian Lott.
• Lorraine Holston, 41, of Staten Island, N.Y., was arrested on
Dec. 24 at 1:36 a.m. on Raritan
Road and charged with driving
with a suspended license. Holston
was also found to have outstanding warrants from Dunellen,
Ridgefield Park, and Union. The
arrest was made by Officer Christian Lott.
• George Sette, 47, of Staten
Island, "N.Y., was arrested on Dec.
19 at 5:03 p.m. on the Garden
State Parkway Northbound for an
outstanding.warrant. He was also
charged with driving with a suspended license. The arrest was
made by Officer Patrick Grady,
Cranford
• Christian Murphy, 18, of
Stafford, VA, was arrested on Jan.
1 at 3:35 a.m. on Jackson Drive
after police observed a vehicle
parked and running in a business
parking lot. The occupants
appeared to be sleeping. Further
investigation revealed that the
front seat passenger. Murphy, was
in possession of a small bag of
marijuana. Murphy was arrested
and charged with possession of
marijuana. The driver, an 18-yearold male from Fredericksburg, VA,
was not charged with any offenses.
The arrest was made by Patrolman
Spencer Durkin.
• George Guzman, 19, of
Union, was arrested on Jan. 1 at
10:11 p.m. after being pulled over
on North Avenue at the Roselle
Park border for improper use of
high beams and tinted windows.
An
on-scenc
investigation
revealed the presence of a bag of
marijuana inside the vehicle. Guzman was charged with possession
of marijuana. The arrest by Detective Robert Montague.
• Themistocles Papazacharis,
49, of Roselle, was arrested on
Dec. 23 at 12:51 a.m. after being
pulled over on Cayuga Road for
using his high beam lights in the
presence of oncoming traffic.
After a brief investigation,
Papazacharis was arrested and
charged with driving while intoxicated. The arrest was made by
Patrolman Brian Lopez.
• Robert Boccher, 40, of Plainfield was arrested on Dec. 24 at
3:09 p.m. after police received a
report of a disturbance on North
Avenue. Officer responded to Cervantes restaurant and discovered
that a former employee, Boccher,
had allegedly smashed numerous
windows and the main door of the
restaurant with a golf club in a dispute over money. The subject was
also alleged to have threatened the
owner. At the time of police
arrival, Boccher was being held at
the scene by the restaurant owner.
Boccher was arrested and
charged with criminal mischief
and terroristic threats. The arrest
was made by Patrolman Peter
Graczyk.
• Kristoffer Koch, 19, of Winfield, was arrested on Dec. 28 at
11:04 p.m. after being pulled over
on South Avenue at Lincoln
Avenue for speeding and driving
with an inoperable headlight.
Police detected an odor of marijuana and located a plastic sandwich bag containing suspected
marijuana on the driver, Koch. He
was arrested and charged with
possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. The
arrest was made by Patrolman
Robert Jordan.
by Officers Glen Sandull and
Chris Bryson.
Linden
• Thomas D. Smith, 35, and
Patrina A. Smith, 29, both of Linden, were arrested on Jan. 3 at
about 3:46 a.m. on East Curtis
Street after police responded to a
report of a burglary in progress.
A witness reported a vehicle
pulled up to a house on an unoccupied rental property. The witness
observed a male walk to the rear of
the house while a second person
remained in the vehicle parked
outside. Responding
officers
approached the vehicle and
detained a female driver while
additional officers checked the
house. In the rear, the officers
observed a basement window
which had been forced open. The
officers heard movement inside
the house and gained access
through a side door. After several
minutes, the suspect was located
in the kitchen area and placed
under arrest. He was in possession
of a pipe cutter which was in his
jacket. Police also recovered a pry
bar in the basement near the forced
basement window.
Thomas D. Smith was charged
with burglary, criminal mischief,
and possession of burglary tools.
Patricia Smith was charged with
burglary. It is believed that the suspects intended to steal copper piping from the vacant residence.
The Linden Police Detective
Bureau is investigating the possibility that the suspects are connected to other copper thefts in the
city.
• James Lougee, 21, and
Krysztof Wisniewski, 21, both of
Linden, were arrested on Dec. 17
at 1:50 p.m. at a residence on East
Price Street.
Lougee was found to be in possession of 120 decks of heroin,
valued at $1,200. He was charged
with possession and distribution of
heroin, possession and distribution
of marijuana, distribution within
1,000 feet of St. Mary and Elizabeth Catholic School, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Wisniewski was charged with
possession and distribution of
marijuana, distribution within
1,000 feet of St. Mary and Elizabeth Catholic School, possession
of a hypodermic needle and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Also seized was $717 in cash.
The arrests were the result of a
month-long investigation by the
police department's narcotics
bureau in response to complaints
about drug activity. The arresting
officers were Detectives Thomas
Kenilworth
• Jonathan Bishop, of Union, Larmore and Douglas Fortuna.
was arrested on Dec. 28 at 10:59
• Mario Tasiguaro, 19, and
p.m. after police responded to a Anthony Basantes, 19, both of
report of a fight at the Apples Bar. North Brunswick, and a 15-yearBishop was charged with disorder- old female juvenile from Linden
ly conduct. The arrest was made were arrested on Dec. 9 in connec-
tion with a residential burglary
committed on August 12, 2010.
The victim reported someone
had entered her Academy Terrace
residence through a screened window sometime during the day, ransacking her bedroom and stole
jewelry, a laptop computer, a pair
of Ugg boots, and ajar of change.
The juvenile suspect was
arrested in early November and
remanded to the Union County
Juvenile Detention Center.
The investigation was conducted by Detectives Spano and Kevin
Mikolajczyk, who also made the
arrest with assistance from the
North Brunswick Police Department. All suspects are charged
with burglary and theft.
Railway
• Police are investigating a case
of burglary reported on Dec. 13 at
8:57 a.m. on Elm Avenue.
• Police are investigating a case
of burglary reported on Dec. 13 at
7:58 p.m. on Jefferson Avenue.
• Police are investigating a case
of theft reported on Dec. 14 at 2:39
p.m. on Saint Georges Avenue.
Union
• Saede Coleman, 37, of Jersey
City, was arrested on Dec. 30 at
11:32 a.m. after being pulled over
on Tucker Avenue at Galloping
Hill Road. Coleman was charged
with hindering apprehension after
providing a false date of birth and
false social security number. Coleman was also found to have outstanding warrants from Jersey City
and Newark. The arrest was made
by Officer Jamie Soltys.
• Shawnette D. Williams, 40, of
Union, was arrested on Jan. 2 at
9:42 p.m. after being pulled over
on Hawthorne Avenue. Williams
was charged with hindering apprehension after providing police
with false information in an
attempt to conceal her identity.
Williams also had an outstanding
Union warrant. The arrest was
made by Officer Kurt Carter.
• Steven Rich Gomez, 24, of
Union, was arrested on Jan. 1 at
3:21 a.m. on Morris Avenue after
being involved in a dispute.
Gomez refused to leave the scene
when instructed by police, instead
continuing to scream and flail his
arms, cursing the officers on the
scene. When police placed Gomez
under arrest he continued to struggle and had to be taken to the
ground to be handcuffed. Gomez
was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The arrest
was made by Officer Kurt Carter.
The information published in
Police Blotter is provide by local
police departments in accordance
with the Open Public Records Act.
All persons charged are presumed
innocent until proven guilty in a
court of law.