Newark cops foil bus getaway of accused thief, authorities say

City man charged

NEWARK -- A city man stole a woman's cell phone Friday and tried to escape on an NJ Transit bus, but was grabbed by a team of Newark police officers, authorities said.

Officers Ivelisse Johnson and Lazaro Rivero, who were assigned to walking patrols made up of recent police academy graduates, were on foot near Bloomfield Avenue and Broadway around 5 p.m. when bystanders told them a man just stole a phone from a passenger on a bus, according to Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose.

A group of witnesses told the officers the thief jumped on another bus headed eastbound, Ambrose said in a statement. Backup officers, Sgt. Anthony Venacio, Angel Pared and Daniel Mendez, stopped the bus and arrested Eric Michael O'Neal, 20, for the theft.

More than 70 sworn in as police officers, firefighters

As police boarded the bus, they spotted O'Neal trying to hide the stolen phone, according to authorities.

Ambrose said the police division's Community Deployment Teams put officers from the two most recent police academy graduating classes on foot patrols in neighborhoods around the city.

Noah Cohen may be reached at ncohen@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahyc. Find NJ.com on Facebook.