Elderly pedestrian dies after vehicle collision
Eighty-nine-year-old Agnes Acerra died at Jersey City Medical Center on Friday, June 26, after sustaining head trauma and injuries to her lower extremities when a van hit her on Washington Street, Hoboken Police Chief Ken Ferrante confirmed Monday.
Acerra, a long-time resident of Hoboken, was struck by an Enterprise rental van while crossing at Fifth Street on Friday morning. Though bleeding from the back of the head, she was alert and responsive after the accident, according to Ferrante.
However, Acerra was pronounced dead at 5:52 p.m. on Friday. According to Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office spokesman Gene Rubino, the medical examiner determined her cause of death to be multiple injuries, including blunt force trauma, resulting from the crash.
The investigation into Acerra’s death has been taken over by the Hudson County Sherriff’s Office and is ongoing. Representatives of the Sherriff’s Office met with the Traffic Bureau of the Hoboken Police Department on Saturday morning to reconstruct the accident, according to Ferrante.
The collision took place at the intersection of Fifth and Washington streets between 10 and 11 a.m. on Friday, said Ferrante. A white Enterprise rental van was turning left with the green light from Fifth onto Washington Street when it struck Acerra, who was crossing with the light.
According to the police report, Ferrante said, the driver stated that Acerra had been in his blind spot. The driver stayed at the scene and assisted Acerra until police arrived.
According to Sherriff’s Office spokesman Michael Makarski, the driver was Marc Anthony Viray of Jersey City. According to a police report, he was given a motor vehicle summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
According to an obituary published Monday, Acerra was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. and lived in Hoboken for over 40 years. She is survived by her husband Salvatore Acerra.
A funeral service for Acerra was scheduled to be held on Wednesday, July 1 at Saints Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Church in Hoboken.
Homeless man allegedly exposes himself to at least 30 children
A homeless man faces a slew of charges after allegedly exposing his genitalia to at least 30 children in Hoboken’s Pier A Park on Friday, June 19, according to a report from the Hoboken Police Department.
Anthony Monteleone, 43, who is unemployed and gave St. Lucy’s Shelter in Jersey City as his place of residence, was arrested and charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of children, lewdness, and criminal mischief, police said.
At around 4 p.m. on the June 19, Hoboken officers Sgt. Pete Zanin and Detective Edward Lepre were dispatched to the park after receiving reports of a man exposing himself to children between the ages of 2 and 5, according to the report. They met with witnesses, who described the man and his behavior.
According to Sgt. Steven Kranz, the man, later identified as Monteleone, had allegedly exposed his erect penis and called out multiple times to children to watch.
Zanin and Lepre subsequently located Monteleone in the eastern end of the park and immediately recognized him based on past encounters, according to the report. When approached, police said, he allegedly began to apologize immediately.
While being processed at Hoboken police headquarters, Monteleone allegedly repeatedly slammed his head against the wall, causing a hole in the sheet rock and leading to the criminal mischief charge, according to Kranz.
Kranz could not provide information as to Monteleone’s detention status.
Dry clean bandit arrested
Two Hoboken men were arrested two weeks ago in connection with a string of burglaries targeting dry cleaning businesses, according to a report from the Hoboken Police Department.
In separate incidents on June 13 and June 20, dry cleaning businesses had their doors broken into by force, the report stated. In the first instance, a cash register containing $20 was allegedly stolen and subsequently found several doors down on Bloomfield Street, according to police.
In the second instance, at a dry cleaner on Willow Avenue, nothing was taken, the report said. Based on an investigation by Hoboken detectives Michael Miranda and Arturo Gonzalez, Sean Lackie, 38, and Alexis Rivera, 35, were identified as the alleged perpetrators and subsequently arrested on warrants on without incident on June 23 and 24, respectively, according to the report.
Lackie was charged with burglary and two counts of theft and Rivera was charged with burglary, theft, and conspiracy to commit burglary. Both were committed to the Hudson County Correctional Facility on $20,000 bail.
Lackie has a long history of alleged burglaries in Hoboken, police said. This past April, he was arrested and charged with burglarizing another cleaner on Washington Street using an identical method of entry, according to a police report.
Turn down for what? The police
As early morning arrived on a recent Monday, Hoboken Housing Authority resident Angel Alicea allegedly wanted to keep the party going. The Hoboken Police Department did not.
After allegedly arguing with officers and ignoring multiple warnings to turn down his radio, Alicea, 31, was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice and disorderly conduct, according to a report from Hoboken police. (Alicea is not to be confused with Angel L. Alicea II, the former Hoboken public safety director who sued the city in 2011.)
The incident began when Police Officers Luke Zeszotarski and Paul Quinn responded to complaints of loud music in the area of 500 Jackson St. after 3 a.m. on Monday, June 22. Upon arrival, they found Alicea, who was allegedly holding a portable radio blasting music and matched the description given by the callers, the report stated.
According to police, Alicea appeared to be consuming alcoholic beverages and was allegedly intoxicated. The officers asked Alicea to turn down the music, and after a short argument, he complied and began walking home, the report said.
However, after walking a block, Alicea allegedly turned up his radio again such that Zeszotarski and Quinn could hear it, said the report. Alicea allegedly ignored several warnings from the officer to turn down the music and refused to provide identification, according to police.
After being processed, Alicea was given a summons and released without further incident.