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."

Investigators left their mark where pedestrian was killed

This is the Leonia intersection and crosswalk where Leyla Kan, 60, of Fort Lee was struck by a school bus on Thursday morning, then dragged and killed. The dark, curving mark visible on the Broad Avenue pavement on Saturday was left by the vehicle's tire as Kan was dragged about 71 feet.

The yellow box marked by investigators on the Broad Avenue crosswalk is said to be where Kan was when she was hit by the school bus, which was turning left from Fort Lee Road toward Englewood. The driver didn't yield to her, police said. The Record's one story on the fatal accident didn't say whether Kan was in the crosswalk.

These markings at the end of the heavy tire skid mark may indicate where Kan's body came to rest.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The door to Picnic Cafe, the pizza-and-pita restaurant owned by Leyla Kan, was open on Saturday and I could hear people seated inside fondly remembering the woman who was killed by a school bus as she crossed the street in Leonia on Thursday morning.

A notice on the window of the Palisades Park cafe said the family of the 60-year-old Fort Lee woman will receive friends from 10 a.m. to noon Monday at McCorry Bros. Funeral Home in Cliffside Park.

Picnic Cafe is on the same street, Broad Avenue, where Kan was killed.

Despite all the unanswered questions surrounding Kan's untimely death, The Record hasn't done a follow-up nor have the editors seen fit to call for a change in the law that would hold drivers criminally responsible for pedestrian deaths.

Only summonses

Esperanza Jaramillo, 54, the bus driver, received summonses for careless driving, failure to yield to a pedestrian who had the right of way and driving a vehicle with badly worn tires.

The poorly reported and edited story on Thursday noted Kan "was struck by the protruding passenger compartment of the minibus behind the door, apparently unseen by Jaramillo."

"Apparently unseen" was the best The Record could do to explain how the turning driver could hit a pedestrian in the crosswalk on Broad Avenue in Leonia, drag the victim 71 feet and not realize it.

Today's paper

The Record's Sunday edition today is one of the thinnest and most disappointing in recent memory.

The main element on Page 1 is a silly report by Staff Writer Christopher Maag on Richard "I Am Not a Crook" Nixon's life in North Jersey after he resigned the presidency in disgrace 40 years ago Saturday (A-1).

In another front-page story, The Record is finally getting around to discussing the impact of a shortage of judges on people involved in divorces and other cases in Bergen County (A-1).

I guess from the Woodland Park newsroom, Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza can't see all of the crime victims waiting for justice in Hackensack.

Road litter

On the Local front, the Road Warrior column continues to harp on the unprotected homes along Route 17 south where a Waldwick police radar officer was killed by a tractor-trailer on July 17 (L-1).

For his last Road Warrior column, Staff Writer John Cichowski made a rare trip to the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan -- where North Jersey commuters face long delays in getting home -- and looked for the most irrelevant story he could find among the gridlocked buses.

In the process, Cichowski put his foot in his mouth once again, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"In his Thursday column, the Road Warrior takes on the simplest of tasks and messes it up with his inept reporting about the statue of Ralph Kramden, the Jackie Gleason bus driver from 'The Honeymooners' TV series, in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and related mass transit issues.

"Road Warrior reports about the virtue of a bus driver calling riders on his cellphone to alert them that their bus was running late, and likened the virtue of this bus driver to Ralph Kramden.

"However, this virtue is contradicted by the facts, which the Road Warrior has frequently addressed in his columns, that the bus driver’s use of a cellphone, hand-held or hands free, greatly increases the risk of an accident and would endanger passengers. It also potentially violates New Jersey cellphone law if the driver is using a hand-held cellphone.

"As Ralph Kramden would frequently exclaim when faced with implausible distortions and sadly worthless statements: 'Har! Har! Hardy! Har! Har!'"

Cichowski also got the bus terminal's age wrong -- again -- and mistakenly reported that $800 million had been proposed to "refurbish" the building when, in fact, the money had been earmarked for a new bus parking garage in the city.

For a full report on the confused Cichowski's continuing ineptitude, see:  

Where am I and how do I get home?

Vegetable high

Readers are staring in disbelief at an Elisa Ung column on the Better Living front about a Sussex County farm, glorious vegetables and the Bergen County chefs who praise and use them in their kitchens (BL-1).

In her many years of food writing for The Record, Ung has shunned salads and become known as the queen of meat and desserts -- and just about any other artery clogging food.

Drivers should be charged with crime in pedestrian deaths

During construction to remove the Little Ferry Circle, only one left-turn lane is provided, above. But in a typical Jersey gambit, drivers turn left from two lanes, causing congestion and delays, then merge into a single lane before crossing the Route 46 bridge over the Hackensack River, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Will the schoolbus driver who failed to yield to pedestrian Leyla Kan in Leonia -- then struck, dragged and killed her -- join so many others in getting away with murder?

Police gave bus driver Esperanza Jaramillo, 54, of Tenafly summonses for careless driving and failure to yield to a pedestrian on Thursday morning, The Record reported on Friday. 

But Leonia police said Jaramillo could not be charged with a crime, because there was no evidence she was using her cellphone before she struck Kan, 60, owner of a Turkish restaurant in Palisades Park.

Final word?

I'm shocked there is no follow up in today's paper. And I hope the Bergen County prosecutor's fatal accident unit challenges the reasoning of Leonia police not to charge Jaramillo with a crime.

When is the Woodland Park daily's editorial board going to call on the state Legislature to change the law to make drivers criminally responsible for killing pedestrians, especially if they are in the crosswalk?

How many times in recent decades have drivers literally gotten away with murder by merely saying they "didn't see" the pedestrian?

'Didn't see' excuse

Friday's L-1 story reports the police version that "Kan was struck [as she crossed the street] by the protruding passenger compartment of the minibus behind the door, apparently unseen by Jaramillo" (Friday's L-1).

"[Police Chief Thomas Rowe] said that as witnesses watched in horror and screamed and honked their horns to get Jaramillo's attention, the bus dragged Kan 71 feet along the street before it came to a stop."

There was no reporting on why the school bus driver didn't know that she had struck Kan or that she dragged her 71 feet, nor does The Record say whether the woman was in the crosswalk. 

A news radio report said the victim's blood stained the pavement.

Lazy editors

The Kan story is another example of the slipshod editing of fatal-accident stories by head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.

These lazy editors are so desperate to fill their pages they often blow up photos as big as possible, as they did on Friday's L-3 with a totaled Porsche 911.

A story reports Stuart Liberman, 55, allegedly was drunk when he crashed into the back of a truck on the George Washington Bridge after midnight Thursday, breaking a thigh bone. 

Big deal.

Rouse leaves

Karen Rouse, a transportation reporter who covered NJ Transit for about seven years, is now a "politics reporter" at WNYC-FM, New York and New Jersey Public Radio, according to her Twitter page.

Rouse's investigative reports for The Record on Superstorm Sandy damage to NJ Transit locomotives and rail cars in 2012 were featured prominently on WNYC-FM.

Her shoes are now being filled by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, the onetime Hackensack reporter who last Sunday wrote about delays at the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.

Today, Maag reports on what caused "the big mess" after the Super Toilet Bowl six months ago, when 20,000 fans were delayed boarding NJ Transit trains (A-1).

Who cares? 

What a waste of space, as commuters continue to scramble for rush-hour seats on trains and buses into Manhattan every weekday morning, and face the possibility enormous delays leaving the bus terminal to go home won't be eased for years.

Meanwhile, former Hackensack reporter Hannan Adely's byline appears today on a story reporting an employee's lawsuit against the city (L-2).

More Christie B.S.

Editors and reporters have adopted Governor Christie's portrayal of himself as a compromiser so wholeheartedly they ignore all evidence to the contrary.

That must be the explanation for how The Record's crack Trenton staff missed the GOP bully's 11 vetoes on Aug. 1 (A-1). 

How embarrassing.

Has Christie used the veto more times than any other governor before him? Don't hold your breath for an answer in The Record. 

Voters don't care

The upbeat story on door-to-door campaigning by freeholder candidates papers over the huge problem of voter apathy (L-1).

In local elections especially, candidates for council and board of education often are elected by a fraction of registered voters.

In last November's gubernatorial election, that bum Christie won a second term, but turnout was the lowest in history for a statewide contest.

So, the freeholder candidates' strategy of targeting residents "with a history of voting regularly" simply doesn't make sense.