Yeah "Way-to-Go" Mr. Eason!

I wish the Journal had the times posted -- wonder if this young gang had anything to do with this other attack:
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Fights off attack by kid thugs
Saturday, September 02, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Eight juveniles pounced on a 30-year-old Jersey City man at Kennedy Boulevard and Orient Avenue Thursday night and tried to rob him of his cell phone, police said yesterday.

But the victim, who suffered bruising and swelling to the left side of his face, put up a ferocious fight, and police said his attackers fled without taking anything.

The victim was treated by emergency medical technicians at the scene and detectives in the juvenile division are trying to find the people who jumped him, police said.

Marauding juveniles are becoming a growing problem in the city, said Jersey City Police Capt. Hugh Donaghue, so much so that police have begun to enforce the curfew law already on the books.

With a few exceptions, children under 17 aren't allowed to be on Jersey City streets unaccompanied by an adult between 10:30 p.m. and 6 a.m., Donaghue noted.

Since Aug. 1, police have picked up 232 people for violating the curfew, Donaghue said.

SPOKESMAN HELPS COPS COLLAR 3
Saturday, September 02, 2006
By KEN THORBOURNE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
Normally, Stan H. Eason, a spokesman for the city of Jersey City and the Police Department, is giving the news to reporters.

But on Thursday night, Eason, a former award-winning reporter at The Jersey Journal, became part of the story.

Displaying quick thinking and daring, Eason helped police nab three juveniles who were arrested and charged with robbing and beating a Jersey City man, police said.

"Clearly, any citizen who would get involved is an asset to the city and the Police Department," said Jersey City Police Director Samuel Jefferson. "Because of his (Eason's) quick action we were able to apprehend these three juvenile males who did a violent act upon a law-abiding citizen."

Shortly after 10 p.m., Eason spotted three youths punching a man on Montgomery Street, police said.

The youths men grabbed the man's cell phone and a bag and took off on bicycles - and Eason followed in his jeep, police said.

While in pursuit, Eason said, he called a police dispatcher on his cell phone, described the youths, and kept police updated on their movements.

When they stopped on Varick Street, apparently to review their loot, Eason kept watch, pulling his car to the side and turning off his headlights, he said.

Guided by Eason's play-by-play, police arrested two of the youths, both 16, at the Jersey Avenue Hudson-Bergen Light Rail station and the third, a 15-year-old, at the old Colony Mall parking lot on Bright Street, police said. All three are Jersey City residents and were charged with robbery, police said.

The victim, a 27-year-old Jersey City man who was walking home when he was attacked, was treated by paramedics at the scene for cuts and bruises, police said.

Asked what motivated him to get involved, Eason said his primal instincts took over.

"They just pissed me off," he said.

And, Eason stressed, none of the three arrested are strangers to the criminal justice system.

According to police, one has been arrested eight times. One was arrested three times, including an incident in which he was caught with a gun and charged with assaulting a police officer.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said he's seeking to have the two 16-year-olds, now being held at the Hudson County Youth House in Secaucus, tried as adults.

"The most troubling thing is how many times you have to catch the same people," Eason said. "The system failed that victim. But the police did a hell of a job. They were called and they responded."




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