By: Richard L. Smith
Maplewood Detective Lieutenant Michael Palmerezzi said on Saturday, April 22, at approximately 5:03 am, the Maplewood Police Department received a 911 call of a motor vehicle that crashed into the steps of 128 Boyden Avenue.
While Units were responding to the scene, they were flagged down by a 37-year-old female who reported being a victim of an attempted strong-arm car-jacking.
According to Lieutenant Palmerezzi, the female reported sitting in her BMW with her 27-year-old male friend in the parking lot of 200 Boyden Avenue (Avalon) when a black male approached her.
The victim described him to be in his 20’swearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with a partially black facemask.
Lieutenant Palmerezzi said the suspect approached her vehicle, reporting she had something hanging from her trunk. When the victim exited her car, she was pushed to the ground while the male jumped into the driver’s seat.
At this point, two additional actors wearing all grey, also with black partial face masks and in their 20s, approached the passenger’s side of the vehicle.
According to Lieutenant Palmerezzi, the suspects proceeded to open the door and removed the male passenger from the vehicle, threw him to the ground and assaulted him.
The suspect in the driver’s seat attempted to flee with the vehicle but was unsuccessful due to a safety feature in the car (the key fob was with the victim, not in the car).
Lieutenant Palmerezzi said the suspects returned to their vehicle and fled the scene northbound on Boyden Avenue in a white Kia that was later determined to be a stolen vehicle out of Bloomfield, NJ.
According to Lieutenant Palmerezzi, the stolen vehicle was the crash that initiated the original 911 call.
The victims sustained superficial injuries and refused medical attention.
All of the suspects were last seen fleeing the scene on foot eastbound on Elmwood Avenue toward Irvington.