Crime & Safety

2 People Wearing Clown Masks Frightened Driver On Highway: Fair Lawn Police

The vehicle allegedly followed another car across 3 highways. Cortney Thissen, 19, of Fair Lawn, was issued a summons for reckless driving.

FAIR LAWN, N.J. — Two people wearing clown masks allegedly hung out of a moving vehicle and yelled at people on state Route 23 South early Wednesday morning, police said.

Fair Lawn police responded shortly after 1 a.m. to a report from a 24-year-old Hawthorne woman who said people in a black Toyota Tundra hung out and yelled at her and her 25-year-old passenger while wearing clown masks, forcing the driver to slam on the brakes, said Sgt. Brian Metzler.

The Toyota continued to follow the vehicle from Route 23 to Route 287 and then to Route 208 when Officer Luis Vasquez and pulled it over on Route 4 East in Paramus, Metzler said.

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Vasquez found two clown masks in the Toyota and marijuana and a knife on Conner Moreno, 18, of Lodi, police said.

Moreno was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and released, police said.

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The driver, Cortney Thissen, 19, of Fair Lawn, was issued a traffic summons for reckless driving, Metzler said.

The other three occupants, two 18-year-old men from Saddle Brook and Hackensack, and a 19-year-old woman from Hasbrouck Heights were released at the scene and not charged, police said.

The two passengers wearing the masks said they only waved their hands at the victims as they hung out of the vehicle, Metzler said.


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The clown masks from the incident police seized. — Fair Lawn Police Department

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