A Kearny police officer was injured and taken to hospital after a vehicle he was patrolling in was struck by a vehicle driven by a man who had just stolen an impounded car at the Moran Towing car pound, Det. Sgt. Michael Gontarczuk, of the Kearny Police Department, told The Observer this morning.
On Oct. 28 at 8:25 p.m., Moran staff told police they observed (on their cameras) a burglar hopping a fence onto their property, so they called the KPD.
Four officers responded.
Moran staff provided a detailed description of the burglar, who at this point had stolen a vehicle from the property and was fleeing. As officers arrived, one officer spotted the burglar forcing open a gate out of Moran. As this occurred, the suspect jumped into the car he stole from the Moran yard and swerved into the officer, nearly striking him.
The fleeing vehicle’s headlights were off and the driver reportedly took off at a high rate of speed, passing another officer who was responding to the scene.
At this point, another officer was also responding to the scene. As the reckless vehicle was coming at him, he came to a complete stop in his lane and did not attempt to block the path of the oncoming vehicle. Unfortunately, however, the suspect swerved right into the oncoming traffic and crashed head-on into the officer.
Police were fortunately able to capture the burglar, who, naturally, refused to show police his hands and refused to exit the vehicle. Ultimately, police were able to extract the burglar from the vehicle and handcuff him.
The officer who was struck head-on was taken to hospital and an ambulance was called for the burglar as well. The burglar was uncooperative and did not accept medical aid.
Georgy R. Charles, 34, of Bayonne, was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer with bodily injury, aggravated assault on a police officer, motor-vehicle theft, eluding police and burglary. He was additionally issued summonses charging reckless driving, careless driving, failing to maintain his lane, failure to possess a driver’s license, vehicle registration and insurance and driving an unregistered vehicle.
Charles was remanded to the Hudson County Jail.
The officer in the crash was later released from the hospital and is recovering from his injuries. Police say they are hopeful the officer’s injuries won’t be permanent in any form.
Both the vehicle the suspect took from Moran and the KPD unit (which was brand new) were likely totaled.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.