A Lyndhurst man with a checkered recent history finds himself on the wrong side of the law for the third time in around a month or so, the Lyndhurst Police Department said Thursday, Dec. 14.
The most serious of the three incidents took place Saturday, Dec. 9, shortly after noon on the 300 block of Copeland Avenue when a resident phoned in a complaint about 33-year-old Ron Williams, of Lyndhurst. At this point, police got a call about a man in the street brandishing a handgun.
Approaching with caution, officers descended on the area where they were met by a group of residents who gave details to the police. As this was happening, Williams reportedly exited a home, his own, and told police whilst he did have an airsoft fun, it was inside his house and he never shot it off or had it outdoors.
Police, however, later learned one of the aforementioned people had been shot by one of the pellets and Williams continued to deny it and then became agitated with officers Anthony Giaquinto, Matt Dudek and Robert Litterio.
Meanwhile, police say they had already obtained strong evidence which clearly showed Williams had fired the air pistol. Now keep in mind, too, this “not real” gun looks incredibly much like a real one, so police clearly demonstrated remarkable restraint in this case.
At this point, police put Williams under arrest and then found the gun inside his home after police performed a well-being check on the other occupants, the police say. (One of the occupants inside the home confirmed to police Williams had the gun — police ultimately found it in plain view.)
Williams was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for unlawful purposes, disorderly conduct and aggravated assault, was remanded to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack and later sprung by court order, police say.
A few days prior, on Nov. 27, Williams was also arrested and charged with shoplifting a cup of coffee from a local convenience store on Riverside Avenue.
And on Nov. 13, police were called to a local business on a report Williams had been acting disorderly.
Police say he was (again) agitated when they confronted him and their efforts to calm him down were futile. As this was happening, Williams, without a handicap placard, was discovered to have reportedly parked his car in a handicap spot — then he refused to move it.
And so ultimately, he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and was issued summonses for the handicap-parking violation and for having an open container of pot in the vehicle, which was ultimately impounded.
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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.