A man who thought he could outsmart a Kearny Police Officer seemed to forget — cameras are everywhere — and more than likely, if one breaks the law, he’s gonna get caught. And in this case, the aforementioned man found out he wasn’t so invincible.
On May 4, at about 3 a.m., Officer Travis Witt was on patrol when he observed a red vehicle exiting a business parking lot at an extremely reckless rate of speed and accelerating west on the Belleville Turnpike. Officer Witt reached speeds of 60mph when attempted to catch up to and stop the vehicle; however, the vehicle took off into North Arlington.
Since pursuit laws have prohibited almost all pursuits, this has become as commonplace as drivers rolling stop signs. Why subject oneself to consequences when one can simply drive away and force the cops to prove you were driving?
Unfortunately for the driver, in this case, that is exactly what Officer Witt did, along with assistance from Det. Kyle Plaugic. Security footage was obtained from the area, and captured the actor making a transaction at a local business.
Officer Witt recognized him from prior interactions as 21-year old Jerry O. Castro, of North Arlington. At this junction, it is worthy to take note of a tattoo blasted across the front of Castro’s neck, which reads “NO REGRETS.” (Not even a few?)
The vehicle and license plate were also identified. Once Officer Witt contacted the owner, she stated her daughter was in possession of the vehicle that night, and her boyfriend “Jerry” who was driving it.
On May 6, Castro was arrested and was charged with eluding and careless driving, reckless driving, two counts of failure to observe a traffic control device (for running through red lights), improper headlamp use, improper turn and improper turn on a red light.
Luckily no one was killed by Castro’s stuntman driving. While he was lodged in the Hudson County Jail that day, he was released the very next day — into the custody of the Belleville Police Department, where another warrant was outstanding for his arrest.
Guess this wasn’t exactly what Frank Sinatra had in mind.
Learn more about the writer ...
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.