Morristown police blotter: Throwing spitballs, careening over grassy medians

MAN CHARGED WITH SPITTING AT OFFICER

Think you have a tough job?

Officer David Gizzi went to work on Aug. 15, 2013, and had someone spit in his face, according to his report.

The report states that Michael Stefani, 33, of Martinsville, was flailing his arms and shouting obscenities, in what appeared to be a “highly intoxicated” state, when Officer Gizzi responded outside the Iron Bar shortly after 10 pm.

Bar employees were trying to detain Stefani on the sidewalk.

When the officer asked what the problem was, the suspect allegedly cursed and “spit in my face,” the officer said in his report.

At that point the man reached for the officer’s microphone, ripping the policeman’s shirt.  With assistance from a bar employee, Officer Gizzi arrested Stefani and took him to headquarters, where he vomited on the garage floor, according to the report.

After being evaluated at Morristown Medical Center, Stefani was charged with throwing bodily fluid at a corrections officer, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.  At that point, he “uttered that he was sorry for his actions, and deserved the charges he was given,” the report states.

DRIVER CHARGED WITH DRUNKEN DRIVING AFTER SLAMMING INTO TREE

A 20-year-old Morristown man was charged with drunken driving, reckless driving and failure to maintain his lane after driving into a tree near the intersection of Morris and Lafayette avenues early on Aug. 18.

Timothy Tuite was bloodied in the crash. His passenger, Corinne Dicapua, 24, of Keansburg, was charged with allowing a drunk driver to operate her Honda.

A witness told Officer Joseph Heuneman that he saw the car fail to negotiate a sharp bend on the road near Acorn Hall, heading south on Lafayette.

The officer determined that the Honda went over the curb of the grassy median on the southbound lane of Lafayette.

“The vehicle continued traveling south, across the entire length of the grass median where the Welcome to Morristown sign and a large cannon are on display,” the report says. The car drove about 15 feet up a steep hill, hitting a tree on the left side of the Morris Avenue entrance ramp to Lafayette.

The pair indicated they had been returning from a wedding at approximately 1:30 am when the crash occurred, according to the report.

Dicapua refused medical attention; Tuite became “agitated and uncooperative” with staff at Morristown Medical Center and required sedation, Officer Heuneman reported.  Police  reached out to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, which in turn obtained a Superior Court judge’s consent for the hospital to take a blood sample from Tuite, the report states.