Businessman Blocks Bergen County Woman In Car After Government Action Against Him: Cops

TEANECK, NJ — A Queens businessman was charged with retaliation and other offenses after he blocked a Bergen County woman's driveway with his car because of actions taken by the state government against him, police said Wednesday.

Yair Babayoff, 41, of Flushing, N.Y. showed up in Teaneck on the evening of June 17 and drove his car in front of a woman's driveway, police say. Police got a all shortly after 5:30 p.m. from a man saying that someone "was blocking him and his wife from leaving the area in their vehicle," according to police.

The caller also said that the suspect had reached into their vehicle, taken his wife’s cellular phone from her hand, then had run into his own vehicle and left the area.

The couple knew who the man was, police said.

They later told police that the couple was actually on the way home when the wife received several hangup calls from Babayoff. Then, when they got home, they saw him standing in the street, and his car was blocking their driveway, they said.

"After words were exchanged, Mr. Babayoff walked up to the passenger side of the couple’s vehicle and grabbed the wife’s arm through the open window," said Teaneck police in a statement. "Mr. Babayoff then grabbed the wife’s cellular telephone from her hands before fleeing the area in his vehicle."

The woman suffered minor injuries to her finger and scratches to her arm but declined medical attention at the scene, police say.

Police said that the woman is employed with the State of New York and had reported that Babayoff had been recently harassing her "over an official government action that was taken against his business."

Online records show that the state had held at least one hearing in 2023 about his actions as an insurance broker.

Babayoff was arrested in New York State by New York State Police on June 18, Teaneck police say. He was charged with:

• Second-degree robbery
• Second-degree burglary
• Fourth-degree retaliation for past official actions

He was extradited to New Jersey and transferred to the Bergen County Corrections and Rehabilitation Center, said Teaneck Police Chief Andrew McGurr.

McGurr said anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact the Teaneck Police Department at 201-837-2600, or Crime Stoppers. Tips can be made anonymously on the group’s website at www.bergencrimestoppers.org or by calling 844-466-6789, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.