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Disgraced cop posts graphic video of woman struck by car

A former cop who streamed North Bergen police radio transmissions after he was fired — a practice that some said compromised public safety — posted a disturbingly graphic video this weekend of police officers desperately trying to save a woman who was struck and killed by a car on Route 46 outside Teterboro Airport. She later died.

Photo Credit: because of the distance & obstructions, to convey the urgency without visibly showing the victim

CLIFFVIEW PILOT selected this photo because of the distance & obstructions, to convey the urgency without visibly showing the victim (Jerry DeMarco Publisher/Editor)

Tom Rowan posted the video on the CLIFFVIEW PILOT Facebook fan page, but it was removed as soon as it was discovered.

The video, shot from a moving vehicle, was originally posted on a site called LiveLeak. It begins at the western end of the accident scene and continues past emergency vehicles before centering on two police officers desperately trying to revive Claudia Suits.

She is on her back, in jeans, her legs sticking out toward the road.

Based on the audio track, those who shot the video apparently were rubberneckers with children in the vehicle. “Turn around,” a voice — apparently that of the male with the camcorder — is heard telling them. “Turn around.”

Rowan once operated a site he called NorthBergenPD.com, causing confusion for those surfing for the township police department’s site.

Rowan and others frequently ridiculed former Police Chief Angelo Busacco on the site, which he called “North Bergen Public Domain.” Once Busacco retired, Rowan moved on, giving the keys to the site to the police department.

Asked what he accomplished with his Web site, Rowan told a reporter: “Deep down, knowing I [angered] Busacco every Monday morning when he came to work, brings a smile to my face for the rest of my life.”

Rowan was acquitted of robbery and misconduct after an undercover sting sent his partner to prison for robbing a state trooper.

He previously was dismissed for being off post in another incident.

Busacco once called Rowan nothing more than “a bad cop … and now he’s a janitor.”


Mother of two struck, killed on Route 46 leaving Teterboro ‘Wings and Wheels’ Expo

Sunday, 26 September 2010 By Jerry DeMarco

A 28-year-old Little Ferry mother of two was struck and killed while walking along the shoulder of Route 46 East outside Teterboro Airport Sunday afternoon, Moonachie Police Chief Michael J. Maguire told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. Claudia Suits attended The “Wings and Wheels Expo” at the airport with her family, then decided to walk home, the chief said. CONTINUED….



Rowan at first praised Busacco’s successor, William Galvin, to the skies. He’s since come down hard, in comments posted on CLIFFVIEW PILOT stories about an incident involving a school official whose mother is dating Mayor Nick Sacco.

“Reminds me of when I gave tickets to all the cars parked in violation in front of Town Hall and Jake took all the tickets off the cars and destroyed them,” Rowan wrote. “I’ll have to search the archives and see if I still have my yellow copies.”

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