Wind Storm Brings 500 Calls For Help In Brick

BRICK, NJ — The strong winds that brought down trees and power lines on Sunday and Monday kept Brick Township first responders busy, authorities said Tuesday.

There were 315 calls for service to the police department during the storm, which packed wind gusts of up to 60 mph, Officer Terence Berkeley said Tuesday. Fire and emergency medical services calls accounted for 185 additional requests for assistance, Berkeley said, for a total of 500 calls for help from residents.

Police officers out responding to calls were busy all over town, but one officer took the time to help a resident whose trampoline went flying on Sunday.

The resident, Mike Rozza, was sitting at home when he got a knock on the door from Patrol Officer John Scott.

"I got a knock on my door from him at about 9:30 (p.m.)," Rozza wrote in a Facebook post on Monday. Scott asked him if he'd lost a trampoline.

"I had no idea it even got over the fence or was gone," Rozza said.

The trampoline, which had been in the back yard for about a year and a half, had been lifted by the winds and tossed down Rozza's street about 200 yards from his home. Scott offered to help Rozza get it back to his house, he said.

"It’s freezing out the wind is insane," Rozza wrote. "I have no idea how I would have gotten this thing back to my house."

Rozza said he and Scott carried the trampoline back to Rozza's home, then helped Rozza break it down "so it would fit in the garage and not keep flying around."

"Thanks John, car 6! And thanks Brick Township Police Department," Rozza wrote.

Rozza told Patch he was planning to reach out to the police department and Chief John Forrester directly to share his gratitude for Scott's help.

"He's a good guy for that," Rozza said.