Crime & Safety
Driver Charged With DWI After Etra Road Crash
In other recent East Windsor police action, two other DWI arrests were made and two thefts are under investigation.
The following details were released by East Windsor Township police. An arrest does not indicate a conviction.
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Driving While Intoxicated
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After crashing his car on Etra Road about 2:45 a.m. on March 2, Sal Cassaro, 25, of Millstone, was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving, refusing to submit to a breath test and possessing an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, according to police.
Officer Glen Vega was on patrol on Etra Road when he heard the sounds of a motor vehicle crash. Vega soon discovered a 2012 Mazda – later found to have been driven by Cassaro – stopped in the roadway with “heavy” front-end damage it had suffered from striking a guardrail, police said.
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“The driver was swaying and had bloodshot, watery eyes. An empty bottle of liquor was observed on the floor of the vehicle,” police said in a news release. “The driver was given field sobriety tests and arrested for DWI. He later refused to submit to the breath test and was charged accordingly. He was later released pending court action.”
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Driving While Intoxicated
Carlo Vitale, 33, of Hamilton Township, was arrested about 11:45 p.m. on March 1 and charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, careless driving, speeding, driving while suspended, and being an unlicensed driver after the vehicle he was operating was stopped on Route 130 by Officer Ryan Ballard, police said.
Police said Ballard initiated the stop because he “clocked” Vitale’s 2012 Hyundai speeding at 63 mph in a 45 mph zone.
“The driver had an odor of an alcoholic beverage and bloodshot, watery eyes,” police said in a news release. “He was given field sobriety tests and arrested for DWI. He was later released pending court action.”
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Driving While Intoxicated
An Essex County man – Luis Morocho, 30, of Orange – was arrested about 2:45 a.m. on March 3 and charged with driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated with a juvenile passenger, reckless driving, careless driving, possessing an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, being an unlicensed driver, child neglect and having a child in the vehicle not properly secured, according to police.
Police said Officer Ryan Ballard observed Morocho’s 2001 Ford in the parking lot of a closed auto body business, with its engine running and lights on.
“Upon checking on the vehicle, the officer detected an odor of an alcoholic beverage on the driver and noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and watery. He was given field sobriety tests and arrested for DWI,” police said in a news release. “A 3-year-old juvenile was in the vehicle and was left in the custody of other occupants. The driver was later released pending court action.”
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Burglary/Theft
Sometime between 10 p.m. on March 2 and 9:30 a.m. on March 3, someone slipped the lock and entered a vehicle that was parked outside the Quality Inn on Franklin Street, police said, noting that an iPod worth $100, a bag worth $20, and $9 in cash were stolen.
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Theft
Two pallets of PVC roofing material were stolen from the parking lot of Meadow Lakes complex off Etra Road sometime between noon on Feb. 22 and 1 p.m. on Feb. 27. The total value of the stolen materials was $15,000, police said.
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