UPDATE: Warren Saunders, 60, admitted to police that he circled the athletic field at Westwood Regional Middle School in a small plane and dropped three rolls of toilet paper last night, during what he said was a practice run for this Saturday’s high school football game against Mahwah, when he planned to drop streamers, Westwood Police Chief Frank Regino told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. FOR THE FULL STORY: CLICK HERE
You could say he left a paper trail, but authorities obviously aren’t amused by the potentially dangerous stunt — first reported last night by CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
The pilot used a low-flying craft to dump the tissue onto the athletic field at Westwood Regional Middle School on Third Avenue, formerly the Ketler Elemetary School.
Fire trucks were used to light up the area of the field so that members of Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire’s Bureau of Criminal Identification would collect the soggy evidence, which the unnamed pilot planned to replace with streamers, authorities said.
The scene at what once was the K-4 Ketler Elementary School — now utilized for grades 6 & 7 –was quickly cleared afterward. The county’s Hazardous Materials unit also went, in case the paper had been treated with any chemicals, the sheriff said.
“The pilot will be criminally charged,” Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire told CLIFFVIEW PILOT earlier.
Westwood police quickly connected with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Flight Standards team out of Teterboro, an FAA spokeswoman told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. For now, it’s a local investigation, she said. Administration officials would then determine whether a federal case would be made if someone were charged, she added.
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