Police blotter
The information below was provided by police unless otherwise noted.
Trenton
Chain Reaction: Hassan Johnson, 27, was just chilling in the street after his car got destroyed in a three-car pileup. The cops arrived to the crash on the 400block of Brunswick Avenue and began investigating. The officer was on scene for 10minutes but hadn’t noticed Johnson still in his beat-up and damaged Ford Taurus, which had caused a chain-reaction accident minutes earlier. Johnson was hidden by dust inside the car that shot up after the airbags deployed. His car had frontend damage and was missing a tire following the crash. Police finally figured out he was still in the car when smelled burnt marijuana, perhaps after Johnson sparked up a fattie. Johnson was asked to get out
of the car. Cops found marijuana and paraphernalia. He was also charged with driving under the influence and was found at fault for the crash. No one was injured in the crash, which was set into motion when Johnson rear-ended another car pushing it into another car that bumped another car onto the sidewalk.
Drugs: Donald Thomas, 34, was arrested by the street crimes unit on the 200block of Walnut Avenue where cops were staked out on an
operation, Police wouldn’t say what the secretive job entailed but they snagged Thomas during it when they saw him do a hand-to-hand transaction with another man. Cops moved in and nabbed Thomas but the other guy got away. Thomas had pills he tried to hide and $960in cash, seized as suspected drug proceeds. Hallway Monitor: Cops saw Lawrence Green, 41, who they recognized from prior investigations, roaming the hallways of a housing complex on Oakland and Hoffman. He explained to the cops when they asked him why he was there that he was banging on the door of a relative trying to retrieve something. Cops didn’t believe him, and Green did himself in when he began making “furtive movements.” He was escorted away from the apartment resident’s door so the cops could try to talk to whoever lived there. Green was found to have crack cocaine. After he was arrested and searched, cops found a cigarette box with a glass pipe. He also had a bag of heroin and another bag with six pills. Not Home Free: Eduardo Lozado, 40, was picked up after he was caught by street crime detectives inside an abandoned home. Cops found a gram of crack and a crack pipe on him. He also was wanted on a warrant.
Bait and Switch: Destiny Cooke, 18, tried to pull the switch-a-roo on her former lover. She said he beat her up, but her ex-boyfriend showed up at cop headquarters say she beat him up. While cops were talking to her, they got word that he showed up at the station complaining about how Cooke punched and scratched him on the side of the face during a fight. He told police he was on Stuyvesant Avenue when she got into his car and they began arguing. He asked her to get out of the car but she refused, then lashed out at him, punching and scratching him in the face with an unknown object. She also tried to rip his phone away. He told her he was going to drive to the police station unless she got out of the car. Cooke refused but eventually relented when he started driving toward the cops. She was charged with simple assault.
Princeton
Drugs: Jessica Mejia-Gomez, 20, was booked following an investigation of a suspicious vehicle in Smoyer Park after hours, She was found in possession of drug paraphernalia and arrested. She was given a court summons with an upcoming date.
Burglary: A homeowner on Wilson Road reported a burglary of their home and vehicle. It happened e between sometime Dec. 7or Dec. 8. Several items were taken from the home and vehicle.
Thievery: Michael Patenella, 40, of Lawrence, an employee, was arrested on charges of theft after he was found to have stolen between $1,000 and $1,200from a store on North Harrison Street. During his arrest, he was found with drug paraphernalia. He was released with a court date.