Lunch and Eye Witnessing the News (5/9/02)
The following news was
happening during my lunch at the Chibogan (located at the Manila Breadhouse
Shopping complex) last Wednesday (05/08/02) I just finished my ‘pakbet when I
heard commotion outside. I stepped out and saw a plainclothesman hand cuffing
the woman across Newark Avenue as curious onlookers started to gather
around. I was amazed that within a
minute almost all the Police units on duty responded to the scene. I saw the
face of the alleged female shooter who seems to be just the ordinary face you
would encounter having lunch with. She could have run inside the Filipino
turo-turo store and blend in. Instead she was caught infront of the Pizza House
few doors from the Aliw Video. The Filipino video storeowner few years ago was
involved in a Police incident as he allegedly made threatening gesture against
a cop with machete inside his store.
The owner won police harassment suits few years later as the cop in
question was discovered to be biased. The legal settlement was very meager as I
think that it was not handled properly.
The traffic incident
started in Palisades Ave near the
Dickinson HS. During the lunch
period Fil-am student sometimes hang around the Chibogan. The high school teacher might have saved
more injury as he reacted bravely to his former experienced as police officer
of Jersey City. It is my hope that there will be more Filipino police officer
and teacher in the near future.
Jersey Journal summarized:
A Jersey City police
officer was shot and seriously injured during a routine traffic stop on
Palisade Avenue yesterday afternoon, officials said. A 27-year-old North Bergen
woman is in custody after being chased down by a retired cop who's a teacher at
Dickinson High School.
According to police, the
shooting took place in front of Dickinson High School at 12:51 p.m., after
Chavis, a member of the department's Motorcycle Squad, stopped a red Mitsubishi
jeep on Palisade Avenue near Washburn Street.
Police said Chavis pulled
over the jeep, in which Gilestra and an unidentified male were riding, and
radioed dispatch of the stop. He then placed the male, who police believe was
the driver, in the back seat of the squad car, a procedure department officials
said was standard.
John Ross, who was in his
girlfriend's apartment in the Hudson Gardens Housing Complex across the street
from the shooting, said he heard gunfire and quickly ran down to see what
happened.
"I heard the shots,
and I ran down," Ross said. "That's when I saw the cop, he was lying
on his back."
Ross said the officer was
bleeding from his chest area, but appeared to be conscious. He said paramedics
and police responded to the scene within minutes of the shooting.
"The cops got here
fast," Ross said. "They were here in a heartbeat."
But retired Jersey City Lt.
James Ahern, who was finishing his lunch in the school's parking lot at the
time of the shooting, was already in pursuit of Gilestra, who fled the scene
with the weapon, a .32-caliber handgun, police said.
Ahern said he saw the
shooting and quickly ran to the fallen officer, grabbed his weapon and
handcuffs, and chased Gilestra on foot through the courtyard of the Hudson
Gardens.
He said Gilestra ran until
she reached the doorstep of Larry & Joe's Pizzeria on Newark Avenue, which
was packed with noon-time customers. Ahern said he handcuffed her and kept her
in custody until police arrived a few moments later.
"I responded to a
brother officer who was in need," he said, as he recounted the chase and
arrest yesterday. "Fortunately I was able to bring it to a successful
conclusion."
Ahern, who retired in 1988
after serving for 25 years on the force, teaches social studies at Dickinson.
When he retired, he had been the midnight tour commander for the North
District, officials said. "It was my training and instinct," Ahern
said. "I was just glad I was able to help.
"Once a police
officer, always a police officer," he added.
Jersey City Mayor Glenn D.
Cunningham is heralding Ahern as a hero, saying the former cop stepped in and
prevented a horrible crime from turning worse.
Ahern's training told him
to secure the officer's weapon, as a crowd was forming at the scene, Cunningham
said, and his instinct guided him in the chase.