Crime & Courts

November 5, 2009

Crash on boulevard in W-B leaves 3 injured Police Blotter

WILKES-BARRE – Three people were taken to local hospitals for moderate to severe injures after a two-vehicle crash at a North Wilkes-Barre Boulevard intersection Friday evening.

Police said Janet Padusnak of Wilkes-Barre, driver of a Chevy Blazer, was turning left from the intersection onto Butler Street when her vehicle was T-boned by a Buick, driven by Leonard Kaminski, also of Wilkes-Barre.

The Buick was traveling in the opposite direction on the Boulevard, police said. Both drivers told police they had the green light.

Kaminski and his wife, Rose, who was a passenger, were taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Plains Township. A passenger in Padusnak’s vehicle was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.

Traffic remained closed in southbound lanes from Butler to Scott streets for about an hour.

Witnesses who might have seen the crash are asked to contact officer Tino Ninotti of the Wilkes-Barre Police Department at 826-8106.

WEST HAZLETON – Police are investigating a report of a home invasion at 65 Washington Ave. just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Dolores Lengen, 78, reported that a man wearing a yellow safety vest and white construction-style hard hat rang her doorbell shortly after 4:30 p.m. and told her that he did damage to her property and asked her to come outside to see it, police said.

As Lengen went to open the door, the man pushed her back into the house and into the bathroom, police said.

While the suspect held her in the bathroom, another man entered the home and removed a safe from the second-floor, police said. Both suspects may have fled the scene in a late-model silver or gray Honda Odyssey.

Lengen described one of the men as in his 20s, light skinned, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall with dark eyebrows and a thin mustache, police said.

Witnesses also reported seeing a male pushing a hand truck down the sidewalk and walk onto Lengen’s porch near the time of the home invasion. That male was described as approximately 6 feet tall with a thin build and short brown hair wearing a dark sweatshirt and jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to contact West Hazleton police at 455-3733.

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