Striking Verizon union workers cause damage to vehicles, block road ways, police called

As the Verizon workers strike continues, things took a turn for the worse in Toms River as union workers allegedly laid roofing nails and damaged a vehicle entering the company’s lot on Hooper Avenue.

Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy said Toms River Police responded to Verizon offices on 980 Hooper avenue and a location on Terrace avenue in reference to conflicts between picketers’ representing IBEW 827 AFL-CIO  and workers of Verizon.

Just after 8 a.m. a Verizon worker reported her vehicle was surrounded and someone dented her 2010 Toyota.    Police noticed, at 9:30 am, there were numerous roofing nails thrown on the ground at the entrance to the Verizon facility on Terrace Ave.

Police officers at the secene had to secure the location to protect workers from the protesting union workers.  “Operations Commander Captain Steven Henry then arranged a meeting with representatives of the union and  Verizon to establish the ground rules to ensure public safety of all concerned.” according to Mastronardy.

However, at  230 p.m. 52 year old Toms River man went to pull into the Hooper Avenue location when according to an accident report filed by Traffic Safety Corporeal Gary Flynn the driver made contact with two protestors as he was entering the lot.  The driver stated the pedestrians were blocking his rite of passage the pedestrians stated they were crossing the sidewalk.  A 42 year old Hamilton Township  male was transported to community with minor injuries.

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Posted by Toms River, NJ on Aug 10 2011. Filed under Headline News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.