Memorial Day Weekend Includes Ten Arrests, One Accident

This year’s Memorial Day weekend in Mahwah included a car accident, drunk driving arrest, and four substance abuse-related arrests, Chief James Batelli said. He called the holiday weekend a “somewhat typical” Memorial Day weekend in terms of arrests in the township.

The weekend included, “one DWI arrest, four arrests for possession of a controlled dangerous substance, one arrest for harassment, one arrest for criminal mischief, and three arrests for contempt of court,” in Mahwah, Batelli said.

He said the nice weather over the weekend actually contributed to less traffic in Mahwah than during a typical weekend. “Unlike some holidays when families stay home or travel locally we see a lot of families visiting the shore or mountains on Memorial Day,” so police saw a reduction in traffic, he said.

Still, Mahwah and state police, and the Mahwah Fire Department responded to a one-car accident on Route 287 North at about 4:45 p.m. Saturday in which one of five passengers needed to be rescued from the vehicle, Mahwah Fire Asst. Chief Brad Stio said. A car driving northbound near the NY border hit into the median and spun around to face south in the northbound lane, Stio said.

Mahwah Rescue Co. 1 firefighters removed the roof and door from the car to rescue a person who was trapped in the vehicle, Stio said. The person was transported to a nearby hospital via Mahwah EMS, he said. The other four people in the car were medically cleared at the scene of the accident, he said. The crash did not result in any life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Fire Co. 2 also responded to the scene to clean “fluids that spilled from the vehicle’s motor,” Stio said.

State police took over the investigation into the cause of the accident, Batelli said.

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