A man who likely didn’t have a bathroom of his own (you’ll find out why shortly) wound up taking a crap inside a police vehicle that was being used to transport him to the Hudson County Jail in South Kearny, all after he allegedly broke into a Chestnut Street (Kearny) home last week, without being charged with burglary, the Kearny Police Department says.
On March 9, 2024, a young girl awoke her father, having sensed something was wrong in their Chestnut Street home. The father investigated, noticing a suspicious odor and noises coming from the basement of the residence. Police say the resident feared for the safety of his young children and began to search his home while armed with his legally-owned handgun.
When the dad found an intruder inside his home, a physical confrontation of pushes and strikes ensued. Despite the intruder punching the father in the ribs several times, the father was able to strike the intruder in the head with his handgun (probably exercising more restraint than was legally required) then held him down while police rushed to the home to assist.
Officers Jean Paul Duran, Angel Martinez, Mat Lopez and Janitza Aquino were first to arrive and when they did, they encountered a rather chaotic scene, with children yelling and running out of the home. They immediately made entry and were able to take the uncooperative intruder — later identified as Dwayne T. Whaley, 49, with no known home — into custody.
Whaley was also found to be a NCIC wanted person out of the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office.
He was transported to a medical facility to receive care for the injuries he sustained after attacking the man whose home he illegally broke into. Once he was medically cleared, he was taken to Kearny Police Headquarters for processing, while statements were obtained from the frightened family.
Since police say they could not prove Whaley intended to commit an offense within the residence, even though it was plainly obvious — why else would he break into a home? (a prerequisite for a burglary), he was instead charged with criminal trespass.
Later that day, as very unfortunate units were dutifully transporting Whaley to the Hudson County Jail in South Kearny, he became frustrated with officers and the sally port of the jail not opening quickly enough for his liking, so without notice, he took a dump in the rear of the police vehicle. Such a nice fellow, eh?
Additional charges of criminal mischief and indecent, lewd conduct were then generated for Whaley.
The police vehicle had to be taken out of service until it could be professionally decontaminated. (God help anyone who has to do that for a living.)
And despite all of this, Whaley has since been released from jail, despite not having a domicile of his own.
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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.