Rookie cop saves man on train tracks: This week in Central Jersey history, July 24-30
Perth Amboy Police Officer Kyle Savoia, a rookie with just seven months on the job, alerted a man who had been lying face down on the train tracks as the train was quickly approaching, it was reported on Wednesday, July 25, 2018.
Savoia also signaled the train to stop. The train stopped inches from the man, who heeded the officer's lifesaving words and moved off the tracks just in the nick of time. The incident occurred on Thursday, July 19, 2018.
Here's a look at events that happened in Central Jersey from five, 10, 25, 50 and 100 years ago this week.
Five years ago
July 24, 2018: RWJBarnabas Health, the state's largest health care system, would invest more than $1 billion in medical research and education at Rutgers University over the next two decades to create a new statewide academic health system, leaders of both institutions announced.
July 24: Chancellor Debasish Dutta resigned over a "clash" with Rutgers University's leadership structure, after just one year at the helm of the university's flagship campus in New Brunswick.
July 25: A fire in a commercial unit with a residence above in Perth Amboy displaced 11 residents. Andrea's Salon, on the first floor of the building at 304 Elm St., was heavily damaged.
July 26: Sikhs across New Jersey were again trying to explain their religion after NJ 101.5-FM radio hosts Dennis Malloy and Judi Franco referred to state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal as a "turban man."
July 27: Beyonce and Jay-Z would perform on Thursday, Aug. 2, and Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, it was reported.
July 28: In the Joe Graziano State Tournament, a Little League elimination game, Somerset Hills beat Millville American, 5-4, at Buchmuller Park in Secaucus.
July 30: It was reported "Minefaire: The Ultimate Minecraft Experience," would be coming to New Jersey for the first time at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison on Saturday, Aug. 4, and Sunday, Aug. 5, 2018.
10 years ago
July 25, 2013: Officials gathered at the Keasbey Redevelopment Zone in Woodbridge's Brownfield Development Area to announce Phase II remediation had been completed, paving the way for the future home of Competitive Power Ventures' natural gas-fueled electric generation facility, it was reported.
July 26-27: Comedian Keenen Ivory Wayans brought his comedy to the Stress Factory Comedy Club in New Brunswick.
July 29: A suspected arson forced a mother, her young daughter and another person to jump from a window of a second-story apartment, at the 300 block of Liberty Street in Plainfield, to safety.
July 30: In a poll revealed at The American Conference's inaugural Media Day at the Hotel Viking in Newport, R.I. Rutgers football was picked to finish third behind fellow former Big East members Louisville and Cincinnati.
July 30: Christopher Conway of Old Bridge pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault in the death of Divyendu Sinha, 49, who died of a head injury three days after being attacked by a group of teens.
July 30: It was reported that, according to a list that claimed to rank the 50 brainiest locales in the country, Central Jersey had three of the smartest cities in the entire nation ― Princeton (ranked 2), Hillsborough (40) and Flemington (44).
1998
July 27, 1998: A Hudson County jury acquitted V. James Landano, of Manville, in the killing of a Newark police officer, Officer John Snow, almost 23 years prior, closing one of New Jersey's longest-running criminal cases.
July 27: John Perone led Somerville's American Legion baseball team to a District 3 championship, beating Freehold, 9-8, at Mercer County Park in West Windsor.
July 29: John Albert, 63, of North Brunswick, was convicted of using his association with Rosario Gangi, 58, of Brooklyn, N.Y., a Genovese crime-family leader, to extort money from Omni-Vannessa, a company involved in the Newark Monorail project, and SECO Corp., a demolition contractor that was working for the Perth Amboy school district, it was reported.
July 30: The Smithereens, kicking off their "Smithereens Workshop," performed at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick.
July 30: Bokram, the owners of Pleasure Plus Video in North Plainfield, pleaded guilty to erecting a sign without a proper permit in Watchung Municipal Court. They were fined $1,030 and ordered to remove the lettering on the store's hot pink awning by Friday, Aug. 7, 1998.
July 30: Twelve arrests of alleged drug traffickers accused of pedaling high-potency heroin to street-level dealers were made in Elizabeth, Linden, Plainfield, Rahway, New Brunswick, North Brunswick and Newark,
1973
July 24, 1973: The Bolshoi Ballet opened a three-day engagement at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel.
July 25: Billy Osmun of Bridgewater won the World Series of Dirt Track Racing 100-lap modified championship at Flemington Speedway.
July 26: A decision by a three-judge federal panel in Newark declared the state law on obscenity unconstitutional.
July 30: According to a statistical study, the State Department of Education said a decreasing birthrate was the chief factor for the first projected decline in New Jersey school enrollment since the end of World War II.
July 30: A Litton Industries spokesman said a total of 240 employees at its South Plainfield Revenue Control Systems plant would be affected when it closed its doors in approximately six months and discontinued the manufacturing of automatic toll and fare collection systems used on toll roads, parking lots, bridges, tunnels and railroad stations.
1923
July 24, 1923: Raiding the plant of the Boreal Chemical Products Corporation in Middlesex Borough, Federal Prohibition agents seized four truck loads of alcohol, machinery, barrels and other equipment and hauled it to the Eagle warehouse in Newark.
July 24: In baseball, Ball-Kirch defeated the Plainfield Mackmen, 7-1.
July 26: While attempting to board a jitney bus at the corner of Salem and Roosevelt avenues in Carteret, Louis Czhuko, 23, of Carteret, was run down by the bus and instantly killed.
July 27-28: "The Woman With Four Faces," starring Betty Compson and Richard Dix, was presented at Reade's Strand Theatre in Perth Amboy.
July 29: Carteret Mayor Thomas J. Mulvihill and Chief of Police Henry J. Harrington set off 12 charges of dynamite in an effort to bring the body of John Koch, 11, who drowned the day before in Carteret, to the surface.
Brad Wadlow is a staff writer for MyCentralJersey.com
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: This week in NJ history, July 24-30
