A 34-year-old Brooklyn man is facing a felony-level resisting arrest charge after police say he fought with officers, gave them a false name, and injured two of them during a DWI stop on Route 46 East in Palisades Park late Friday night. Edwin G. Sisalema-Guananga was driving a red Chevrolet Camaro at a high rate of speed near Abbott Avenue when he was pulled over, according to police.
Police say Sisalema-Guananga appeared intoxicated and quickly became aggressive and belligerent once he was stopped, refusing to follow lawful commands from officers. As reported by DailyVoice.com, the stop was being conducted by Detective Robert Then, who was assigned to a DWI enforcement detail at the time. Then and a second officer, Julio Mancilla, both sustained minor injuries in the struggle and received treatment at the scene, though neither required hospitalization, per the same account.
The confrontation escalated when Sisalema-Guananga allegedly gave officers false information about his identity, an act that under New Jersey statute N.J.S.A. 2C:29-3 can be charged as hindering apprehension — a fourth-degree crime carrying up to 18 months in state prison when done to evade prosecution for an underlying offense, according to Justia Law. Officers ultimately determined his true identity at the scene, the report notes.
Charges Pile Up After the Struggle
Because the scuffle left two officers with injuries, the resisting arrest charge against Sisalema-Guananga was elevated from a disorderly persons offense to a third-degree indictable crime under N.J.S.A. 2C:29-2, a felony-level charge that carries a potential sentence of three to five years in state prison and fines up to $15,000, per Justia Law. He was also charged with obstructing the administration of law, which escalates to a fourth-degree crime punishable by up to 18 months in prison when it interferes with the investigation of an indictable offense, according to Justia Law's outline of N.J.S.A. 2C:29-1.
On top of the criminal charges, Sisalema-Guananga was issued a string of motor vehicle summonses: driving while intoxicated, careless driving, driving without a license, and refusal to submit to chemical breath testing. That refusal charge, brought under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.4a, triggers penalties separate from the DWI itself, including mandatory license revocation until an ignition interlock device is installed and nine to 15 months of required interlock use, according to Lubiner Schmidt and Palumbo. Driving without a valid license separately carries fines up to $500 and up to 60 days in jail for a first offense under N.J.S.A. 39:3-10, per Justia Law.
Why Police Were Out on Route 46 That Night
The stop happened during New Jersey's statewide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, a Labor Day high-visibility enforcement push that ran from August 19 through September 7 and was backed by more than $700,000 in state traffic safety grants for extra saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General. That funding is why a detective was working a dedicated DWI detail on Route 46 late that night in the first place.
According to New Jersey’s 2017 Annual Report, the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign resulted in 1,382 DWI arrests. The 2019 campaign resulted in 1,280 DWI arrests, according to New Jersey’s 2019 Highway Safety Annual Report.
The stakes behind that enforcement push are steep. New Jersey recorded 647 fatal traffic crashes in 2024. Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that a third of the 505 traffic deaths during the 2024 Labor Day weekend involved an alcohol-impaired driver, with drivers between 18 and 34 making up the largest share of those killed.
Police Describe an Unpredictable, Evolving Threat
Palisades Park Police Chief George Beck said the incident highlights the unpredictable dangers officers face while keeping the community safe. Taking a hostile and aggressive suspect into custody is difficult, Beck said, when officers face an immediate, evolving threat.
Despite the injuries to Then and Mancilla, Sisalema-Guananga was processed and released rather than held in county jail. That outcome is standard procedure under New Jersey's Criminal Justice Reform Act, which largely eliminated cash bail in 2017: defendants charged via complaint-summons, rather than complaint-warrant, are processed and given a court date instead of being held for a judge's pre-trial release decision, according to Rosenberg | Perry & Associates. Sisalema-Guananga, who lives in Brooklyn, is scheduled to appear in Bergen County Superior Court on September 14.
