7 Howell teenagers
charged in bias incident
By MARGARET F.
BONAFIDE, thnt.com Online, June 19, 2007
LAKEWOOD -- Seven Howell
teenagers throwing eggs and yelling slurs and obscenities while riding through
an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood here were apprehended and charged with bias
intimidation and simple assault early Sunday morning, said Police Chief Robert
C. Lawson.
Police received a complaint at 2:39 a.m. that a red pickup truck with several
males in the bed were at Fourth Street and Private Way. Occupants were
screaming obscenities and anti-Semitic slurs while throwing eggs at an Orthodox
resident, Lawson said.
The truck's description was broadcast, and officers were looking for it when
another caller said he was following a truck, Lawson said. The caller said
three males in the truck bed, one who was shirtless, were throwing items at cars
and houses.
The caller helped police track the truck, which was pulled over on Route 9 in
Howell by Lakewood patrolman David Silverstein, who found the three males lying
down in the truck bed along with a carton of eggs and one loose egg, Lawson
said.
The driver, Christopher Klauder, 18, of Heritage Drive, Howell, admitted to the
officer that he had participated in the acts and expressed disbelief at his own
"stupidity" for doing so, Lawson said.
Klauder and three other 18-year-olds were charged with simple assault and bias
intimidation, Lawson said. The others are Edward Fischer of Colonial
Court, Christopher Balasone of West Shenandoah Road and Andre Ferreira of
Albatross Way.
"These charges are very serious and are indictable," Lawson said. "Bias
crimes in Lakewood, a very diverse community, will not be tolerated for any of
our residents."
Three 17-year-olds were charged with juvenile delinquency. The three
youths in the bed of the truck were charged with two motor-vehicle violations of
throwing debris from a moving vehicle and riding in a truck bed, the chief said.
Under normal conditions, a simple assault would be a disorderly-persons offense,
but combined with a charge of bias intimidation it becomes a fourth-degree
offense and is indictable, Lawson said.
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