See how this Hawthorne mom helped police catch the men who tried to sell her heroin

HAWTHORNE — A potential drug deal went south in a matter of minutes for two men who approached the wrong woman at a local convenience store in broad daylight.

Borough resident Kali Rendino was eager to tell her story because she wants people to know what they should do when they encounter such brazen criminal activity.

“I don’t like that it’s around here,” said the 40-year-old mother. “If I could stop it from happening, I’d do my very best to do that.”

Rendino, a native of Carteret, was minding her own business on Tuesday afternoon when a man walked up to the open window of her SUV, parked at Crossings Deli at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Wagaraw Road.

The busy intersection is steps away from the borders of Fair Lawn and Paterson.

The exterior of her SUV is “banged up,” and she initially thought the man who approached her asked if she wanted bodywork done to it.

“I thought he said ‘panels,’” she recalled.

With the traffic noise in the background, Rendino did not understand what he said. But as he repeated himself, it clicked.

She said he was really asking if she wanted to try a “sample.” He extended his arm into her SUV, she said, and he opened his fist. She said he held a single glassine envelope, stamped with a red symbol.

“I knew instantly what it was,” Rendino said, explaining that she watches many TV crime dramas.

Story continues below Facebook post.

The man offered to sell her heroin, and when she turned him down, another man got out of their car. Then, the pair walked into the store.

As Rendino looked away, she noticed another man sitting inside his vehicle parked next to hers. “Did you see what just happened?” she recalled asking him.

“And he was like, ‘What was that?’” she said. “I was like, ‘They tried to sell me heroin. Should I call the cops?! I should call the cops.’”

Rendino said she got out of her SUV, and while standing out of view and in between their vehicles, she dialed the phone number for Hawthorne police. A dispatcher answered her call, and she provided a description of the men and their car.

FINE DINING:Award-winning chef Adam Weiss to open BYOB restaurant in Hawthorne

Meanwhile, they left the store and headed west on Wagaraw Road.

After Rendino gave enough information to the dispatcher, she said she went into the store to make a purchase before leaving in the same direction to go home.

A police cruiser with flashing lights passed by, going the opposite way, and as she looked in her rearview mirror, she saw the men were already caught.

Their silver car was surrounded by cruisers at Cho’s Taekwondo Academy, less than 350 feet from the site of their foiled drug deal.

LAND USE:Dormant car dealership in Hawthorne is subject of study and possible zone change

The police department posted a message to its Facebook page on Tuesday evening, thanking Rendino for her vigilance. The men, they said, were arrested on charges of narcotics distribution. A “significant amount” of cash and drugs were seized from their car, wiping out their illicit enterprise.

“Had the perfect example today of why it is so important to call the police IMMEDIATELY upon seeing something suspicious,” they said. “Not to mention, getting a license plate and providing us with great information.”

Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: devencentis@northjersey.com