Columnist protects cops who allowed murder in crosswalk

In this photo from NJ.com, investigators use a sheet to block a view of the mangled body of Leyla Kahn on Aug. 7, 2014, after she was struck in a Leonia crosswalk and dragged for 71 feet as horrified onlookers tried to alert the driver of the minibus that ran her down.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Leave it to one of The Record's most confused and error-prone reporters to compare the "illicit" lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 to traffic jams on Fort Lee Road in neighboring Leonia.

Even more shameful is Staff Writer John Cichowski ignoring the August 2014 death of Leyla Kahn, 60, who was struck in a crosswalk at Fort Lee Road and Broad Avenue in Leonia, and dragged to her death by a minibus driver who failed to yield to her (L-1).

On the day the restaurant owner died, Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe deflected responsibility from his department by complaining about an "inordinate amount of traffic" in his town from the turnpike and bridge, and appealed to the state for help.

Rowe even told NJ.com his borough was too broke to keep a crossing guard stationed at its busiest intersection year-round, and was so understaffed putting an officer there was out of the question.

Instead of exposing Rowe, The Record allows him to continue complaining about that bridge traffic, as readers can see from the criminal Road Warrior column today.

Not related to GWB

Of course, despite what the police chief said, Kahn's death was totally unrelated to the traffic that seeks a short cut via Leonia's Fort Lee Road when the bridge is jammed.

She died at the hands of a driver who had received summonses for nine motor vehicle violations and whose driver's license was suspended five times since 1992, The Record reported on Sept. 22, 2015.

That's when former minibus driver Esperanza Jaramillo of Tenafly pleaded guilty in Leonia Municipal Court to failure to yield to a pedestrian who had the right of way and driving a vehicle with badly worn tires.

She was fined $328.

The prosecutor basically allowed her to get away with murder, and decided not to pursue a third charge of careless driving.

The judge thought the punishment was too light and also imposed a 180-day license suspension on Jaramillo, who worked for Rainbow Transportation and was taking special-needs students to a day camp in Tenafly, when she struck and killed Kahn.

The dead woman's husband filed a negligence lawsuit against Jaramillo; Rainbow Transportation of Bergenfield; and the owners of the company, Julia and Robert Carozza.

Takes credit

Cichowski even takes credit for a "Road Warrior exclusive" on Sept. 13, 2013, that, he claims, prompted the Port Authority's executive director to halt a bogus traffic study, and reopen the closed bridge access lanes in Fort Lee.

He names five readers for tipping him to the lane closures, when, in fact, then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg wrote in an email to subscribers one of his friends called from the GWB traffic jam he was trapped in to see if the paper knew what was going on.

Borg then contacted Cichowski.

Impeach Christie

Columnist Brigid Callahan Harrison is asking the state Legislature to consider charges of impeachment against Governor Christie.

She says Christie should be impeached, if prosecutors show he lied about the September 2013 GWB gridlock on Jan. 9, 2014, when he claimed he "had no knowledge and involvement in this issue, in its planning and its execution."

Harrison wrote the column for The Star-Ledger on Thursday.

In her column for The Record last Sunday, Harrison discussed Christie's "policy of rewarding ... friends and punishing ... enemies."

Fort Lee's mayor, Mark Sokolich, wasn't the only Democrat who suffered after refusing to endorse Christie for reelection in November 2013.

Two others she lists are Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

And when Democrats endorsed the GOP thug, there were abundant rewards.

The columnist reports Christie funneled $6 million in federal funds for Superstorm Sandy recovery to build a long-desired senior citizens housing project in Belleville -- two weeks after the Democratic mayor endorsed the governor -- "even though there was no significant damage" to the town.

In Harrison, the Port Authority agreed to spend $256 million for a new PATH station at Christie's behest.

"A mere week" after construction plans were filed with the town, the "then-mayor and eight Democratic council members endorsed Christie."

Here is a big reason you don't want to move to Leonia

In Manhattan today, panhandlers were working the rush-hour traffic on the Harlem River Drive ramp leading to the George Washington Bridge.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Two weeks ago, a vibrant 60-year-old restaurant owner using a downtown Leonia crosswalk was struck by a school bus and dragged 71 feet to her death.

In The Record's story on Leyla Kan of Fort Lee, Leonia Police Chief Thomas Rowe appealed to Governor Christie and the Port Authority to do something about rush-hour traffic from the turnpike that uses the town as a shortcut to the George Washington Bridge.

But what that had to do with the death of Kan was unclear in The Record's poorly reported Aug. 8 story.

No connection

In fact, it had nothing to do with her death, as a column this past Sunday revealed:

"The fatality stretched law enforcement to the breaking point, said Rowe, because only two of his department's 17 officers were on duty at the time and they were handling a domestic call" (Sunday's Road Warrior column, A-1 and A-8).

Yikes! Only two police officers were working in Leonia on a busy Thursday morning? 

Photos of Leyla Kan were part of a memorial at her Palisades Park pita-and-pizza restaurant, Picnic Cafe.

Incompetent leaders

Where are borough officials? Where is property tax money going, if not to keep residents and visitors safe?

Given all of the rush-hour traffic that inundates Leonia, shouldn't Rowe assign at least one officer to direct traffic at its main intersection, Fort Lee Road and Broad Avenue, where Kan was struck by a school bus driver who failed to yield to her?

Wouldn't Kan be alive today, if an officer was guarding the crosswalk she assumed would protect her on a beautiful, great-to-be-alive day?

Shameless apologist

Road Warrior John Cichowski, who likely is in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease, quotes Leonia Borough Council President Gil Hawkins as saying:

"Austerity measures caused largely by a weak economy and  declining tax base led to the loss of six officers over the years."

And they weren't replaced? Every town in North Jersey has been hit by a "weak economy and declining tax base."

That's no excuse in Leonia or anywhere else.

Cold-blooded reporter

In his Sunday column, Cichowski couldn't have been more insensitive to Kan's death.

First, he refers to her death as "a fatal bus crash near the mayor's hardware store." Later, he calls it a "grisly bus crash." 

There was no "bus crash" in the usual sense of the phrase. How did the editors allow this fuzzy nonsense in the paper?

Cichowski never names the victim, as if she was so much road kill.

A cover-up

Cichowski's column and the Aug. 8 news story reporting Kan's death amount to a cover-up of Leonia officials' incompetence.

The original news story didn't mention the short police staffing, and gave the police chief a platform to distract attention from it by asking for state and regional help dealing with rush-hour traffic.

Reporters just published his remarks; no one at the press conference or in the Woodland Park newsroom asked Rowe what his request for help directing traffic had to do with Kan's death.

Today's paper

Readers bored with A-1 today likely flipped the page and saw an item on A-2 that basically admits the Sports staff can't spell names or correctly identify athletes in photos (A-2).

A Bergen County jury found that a cold-blooded Stephen Scharf murdered his wife by throwing her off of the Palisades in 1992.

Now, his conviction has been thrown out, but the appeals-court judges didn't attack any of the actual evidence against him, and he will be retried, if necessary.

Why is The Record giving him a platform today to discuss his "plans for life as a free man" (A-1)?

If anyone is a "Big Pussy," it's Columnist Bill Ervolino, who today second guesses the Bergen County Historical Society's 10 Legends (A-1).

Hackensack news?

Who is covering Hackensack for The Record?

Christopher Maag, who took over from Hannan Adely, is now covering NJ Transit.

Adely's name appeared under a Wednesday brief reporting action on a downtown park at Monday's City Council meeting, but she also covers education. 

Ticket prices

On the Better Living front, the $150 price (plus tax) given for a ticket to the Sunrise Senior Living Jazz Festival on Sunday conflicts with the Web site, ticketbud.com, where lower-price tickets also are available (BL-1).