A Harrison man who, in 2020 at the infancy of the COVID-19 pandemic, coughed on Kearny police officers while claiming to have the-then very deadly affliction — and who has had numerous other run-ins with the law — finds himself behind bars again after police found him squatting inside a vehicle that was not his.
According to Det. Sgt. Mike Gontarczuk, the Kearny Police Department’s public-information officer:
On Sept. 24, at 5 a.m., Kearny Police Department units responded to a suspicious man in a vehicle which did not belong to him.
On Wilson Avenue, Marco Costa, 34, of Harrison, was found inside a black Honda which belongs to a Kearny resident. When confronted by Officers Cazares, Carlos and Knighton, the man reportedly lied, stating the vehicle belonged to his cousin “Angel” (not who the vehicle is registered to).
Units learned the provided information was false when they raised the true owner of the vehicle. Then, they attempted to arrest Costa at which point he began to run. However, he only got a few steps away when Officer Carlos and Officer Cazares took him down to the ground, overcame his resistance and handcuffed him.
A search incident to arrest yielded multiple used hypodermic syringes, miscellaneous cables, a screwdriver, a Leatherman multi tool and a series of credit cards and debit cards belonging to others (typically proceeds from burglaries).
Costa was also in possession of the driver’s license of the person who called police to the scene. The officers were able to contact the victims and return their cards back to them.
Once transported to the KPD headquarters, Costa refused to be photographed or fingerprinted.
He was charged with burglary, resisting arrest, burglary tools, possession of drug paraphernalia, refusal to submit to fingerprinting procedures, obstruction of the administration of law and credit card theft.
He was later transported the Hudson County Jail.
Once arriving at the jail, he reportedly fought with corrections officers and during the scuffle, suspected crack-cocaine fell out of his person (which were not previously found because KPD cannot routinely conduct strip or cavity searches). Additional charges are pending.
Costa’s most noted arrest occurred April 6, 2020, just a month after the world shut down from COVID-19. Back then, Kearny officers responded to the area of Kearny Avenue and Dukes Street on a citizen’s report of a man attempting to enter parked vehicles by trying their door handles (notice a pattern?)
Officers located Costa nearby. Subsequent to a further investigation, Costa was arrested. Because, according to police, during a search incident to arrest, Costa allegedly told officers, “I have Corona,” before turning his head and coughing in the direction of the searching officer and then in the directions of two back-up officers.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served 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 social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, 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 Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.