Bear Spotted at Berliss Bearing

Berliss has been making bearings in Livingston for 60 years but on Thursday it was an actual bear – a black bear, confused and scared according to an eyewitness  -- in the company’s parking lot on Route 10.

“It was a first for us and we’ve been here since 1951,” said a Berliss worker who asked that his name not be published. “I tried to stare him down like Davey Crockett but it didn’t work. So I got in my car and drove off.”

“Berliss Bearing had a bear in the parking lot,” said Det. Sgt. Anthony Dippold. “It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it?”

The Passaic River runs through the wooded property behind the Berliss building, and Dippold said it was likely the young black bear was looking for food. “He didn’t appear to be aggressive at all.”

The bear ran away and led police on a chase behind several vacant buildings – a car dealership, Katharine Gibbs College and Circuit City, Dippold said.

Lisa A. Lehrer, an attorney who works in the offices at 570 Mount Pleasant Ave., was on her way out shortly before noon when the bear came running from the parking lot of the abandoned Warnock car dealership next door.

"I had my three-year-old there and I grabbed her and got in our car." Lehrer said. "They (police) were running with rifles and yelling, ‘Bear! Get back in the building.’ It was crazy."

 The bear appeared to about 3 feet high and was walking on all fours, Lehrer said. “My three-year-old wanted to pet him. He looked somewhat scared and confused.”

The bear managed to escape all the commotion and disappeared back into the woods, Dippold said.