Tag: Wyckoff NJ

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Lawsuit against Ridgewood Water to be decided by Superior Court judge

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JULY 15, 2015, 2:19 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2015, 2:23 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Years-long litigation against Ridgewood Water must be decided by a Superior Court judge, a state appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

The Appellate Division of New Jersey’s Superior Court reversed a trial judge’s 2014 decision transferring the suit to the Board of Public Utilities for resolution.

In a 25-page ruling, the Superior Court Appellate Division remanded the matter back to the trial court, noting “this is not a case requiring the particular expertise associated with the jurisdiction of the BPU.”

Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn declined to comment Wednesday, citing the ongoing nature of the litigation.

The class action lawsuit was filed against Ridgewood Water in Superior Court by Wyckoff officials in 2010, with the municipalities of Glen Rock and Midland Park joining the action as plaintiffs a year later.

The lawsuit alleges the water utility raised its rates in 2010 by 21 percent and that rates further rose 5 percent in 2011 and 2012.

The suit contends the rate hikes were approved in an ordinance adopted by the village council, and characterizes the increases as “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable and, accordingly, should be declared invalid and unenforceable.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/lawsuit-against-ridgewood-water-to-be-decided-by-superior-court-judge-1.1374549

 

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Paterson Man found in woman’s car in Wyckoff said Allah sent him

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JUNE 3, 2015, 6:59 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015, 7:05 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

WYCKOFF — Police arrested a Paterson man Tuesday night after he was found lying in a car that wasn’t his in the parking lot of the Wyckoff YMCA on Wyckoff Avenue.

Paterson resident Zakiy I. Muhammad, 20, allegedly climbed into the car sometime after it was left there by a 68-year-old woman going on a tour-bus daytrip, Police Chief Benjamin C. Fox said in a statement. When the bus returned from the trip and dropped the woman off, she “found a man lying inside with the seat reclined.”

She yelled at him to get out, but Muhammad allegedly replied that “God told him to be here,” Fox said. The bus driver and others came to the woman’s aid, and the bus driver managed to get the man out of the car and into the bus, where they waited for the police.

Sgt. Michael Ragucci, Sgt. Thomas Tully and Officers Kevin Pinches and William Christopher responded at 11:04 p.m.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/man-found-in-woman-s-car-in-wyckoff-said-god-sent-him-1.1348114

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Officer in fatal shooting of Wyckoff dog was distraught, eyewitnesses say

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Otto, the 5-year-old German shepherd that was shot and killed by a Wyckoff police officer, is shown in this photo provided by the family.

MAY 20, 2015, 12:57 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015, 8:06 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

WYCKOFF — A police internal report has been released showing the chain of events that ended with an officer’s fatal shooting of a family’s dog on April 29.

The report released Tuesday by the Police Department includes a description by Lt. David Murphy, who had been on traffic duty near Lawlins Road, of the shooting’s immediate aftermath.

Murphy found Patrolman Kyle Ferreira “very distraught” and “pacing back and forth” after he’d responded to the wrong address on a possible burglary call and shot Otto, the Vukobratovic family’s 5-year-old German shepherd.

“He was shaking his head and several times, he put both hands on top of his head. To me, he appeared to be visibly upset by whatever events had transpired prior to my arrival,” Murphy said.

Algis Setikas, who lives across the street at 621 Lawlins Road, had reported the possible burglary after finding damage to a window screen and exterior light bulb. The report said he had gone to the Police Department in person so as to not disturb his wife, recovering from surgery, or his newborn.

Minutes later, a police car pulled up in front of his house, but the officer never came to the door. As Setikas walked towards the car, the report said, he heard “four or five consecutive loud bangs,” and looked across the street to see Ferreira in what he described as a “shooting stance.” Setikas checked on his family, then ran to the Vukobratovics, yelling to Ferreira that he had the wrong house.

“He observed that the officer was standing on the driveway outside of the gate with his hands on his head, looking upset and distraught,” the report said.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/officer-in-fatal-shooting-of-wyckoff-dog-was-distraught-eyewitnesses-say-1.1338573

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Dog shooting in Wyckoff

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Regarding “A death years before dog shot” (Page A-1, May 7):

The incident in Wyckoff regarding the police officer protecting himself against a dog that was doing its job to protect the property is unfortunate.

The dog owners are distraught, and the police officer, who really had no other choice, must be beside himself. I think the most unfortunate thing is that The Record now has run an article about something the officer was involved in while working in Newark.

That has nothing to do with the Wyckoff incident, and even the dog owners agree. What’s even more disturbing is the mayor of Wyckoff buckling to public outcry. If this were a child being bitten by this dog because a ball went over the fence and the child went in the yard to retrieve it, the officer would have been a hero.

I think having a window open to allow a dog to go in and out of a house poses a problem itself, especially in terms of liability for the homeowner. That could be an issue if an ordinary citizen were involved in this incident, and not a cop.

Patrick Elwood
( Patrick Elwood is a Ridgewood PD patrol officer )

Hawthorne, May 7

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/the-record-letters-friday-may-8-1.1329430

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Wyckoff cop who shot dog allegedly hit suspect with police car in Newark in 2010

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MAY 7, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015, 12:25 AM
BY STEVE JANOSKI AND ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITERS |
THE RECORD

The officer who fatally shot a Wyckoff family’s 5-year-old German shepherd was also involved in an alleged 2010 police chase in Newark that ended when the police car he was driving fatally struck a domestic violence suspect.

The officer, Kyle Ferreira, was not charged or indicted in the Newark case, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday. And Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox said that the department knew about the incident when he was hired in February 2012.

Newark agreed to settle a civil lawsuit related to the incident for $350,000, according to federal court documents. Ferreira was among 160 Newark police officers who were laid off in late November 2010 because of budget cuts, an attorney for Newark said.

Fox said that the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office had cleared Ferreira of any criminal wrongdoing in the case and that it was “simply ruled an accident.” He said that Wyckoff authorities were “aware of it, and we investigated it.”

Katharine Carter, a spokeswoman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said prosecutors had presented the case to a grand jury, which found “no cause for action” against Ferreira. “In essence, his actions were deemed to be justified,” Carter said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/wyckoff-cop-who-shot-dog-allegedly-hit-suspect-with-police-car-in-newark-in-2010-1.1326807

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Wyckoff family whose dog was killed by police at loss for answers

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MAY 5, 2015, 6:05 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2015, 11:15 PM
BY STEVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The Vukobratovic family of Wyckoff returned to their “empty house” on Tuesday night, but they did so knowing that the tragic story of Otto, their German shepherd shot by a policeman during a mistaken burglary call, is likely to get a formal review by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

That was the result of a sometimes emotional Wyckoff Township Committee meeting where the family had gone demanding answers to what happened — step-by-step — last Wednesday in the moments leading up to Patrolman Kyle Ferreira’s shooting 5-year-old Otto twice in the back yard of family’s Lawlins Road home.

The meeting also saw boisterous picketing outside Township Hall by about 60 people — some with their dogs — who questioned the appropriateness of Ferreira’s response to what police say was an attack by Otto. And it included an apologetic Police Chief Benjamin Fox again expressing his department’s pain and regret over the incident, as well as Mayor Kevin Rooney’s stern condemnation of how Ferreira has been pilloried on social media even as a police review of the incident is continuing.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/wyckoff-family-whose-dog-was-killed-by-police-at-loss-for-answers-1.1325929

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Donors start backing Josh Gottheimer of Wyckoff as potential Garrett challenger for Congress

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ABC News Photo

MAY 4, 2015, 5:37 PM    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, MAY 4, 2015, 5:39 PM
BY HERB JACKSON
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT |
THE RECORD

Top veterans of the Clinton and Obama administrations are lining up to help raise money for Josh Gottheimer of Wyckoff, a former speech writer for President Clinton who is preparing to run for Congress next year against Rep. Scott Garrett.

Gottheimer, 40, raised more than $219,000 in March and was set to add to that on Monday night at a fund-raiser at the Washington, D.C., home in of Patti Solis Doyle, a former adviser to then-first lady Hillary Clinton and to President Obama’s campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

Other names among the 28 hosts for the fund-raiser include Mack McLarty, who was President Clinton’s chief of staff; Julius Genachowski, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission; Sandy Berger, former national security adviser to Clinton; Paul Begala, Clinton political strategist and media commentator; and Jennifer Palmieri, communications director of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

The outpouring of support for a challenger is unprecedented this early in the campaign cycle in the Republican-leaning 5th District, a place Democrats in North Jersey have repeatedly said they could win if a candidate could raise enough money to define Garrett on New York television.

Gottheimer is a North Caldwell native who moved back to North Jersey with his family three years ago. A corporate strategist for Microsoft, he previously worked for the FCC and on the presidential campaigns of John Kerry in 2004 and Hillary Clinton in 2008.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/donors-start-backing-wyckoff-man-as-potential-garrett-challenger-for-congress-1.1325275