On January 7, two Paramus police officers rescued a trapped driver whose SUV crashed on Route 17.

One of the police officers was Nicholas Perna, Eagle Scout Class of 2007, Troop 186, Raritan Valley District.

The driver’s vehicle ended up on overpass stairs and caught fire. Perna, pictured left and below, and his fellow officer climbed through the back hatch and rescued the driver.

Perna began in Scouting as a Tiger in Pack 186 and continued on to Troop 186, where he became an Eagle Scout and earned several palms. For his Eagle project, Perna designed and installed a period-correct pathway at the Old Dutch Parsonage State Park in Somerville, New Jersey, as well as a stairway.

Perna joined the Ridgefield Park Police Department in 2014 and moved to the Paramus Police Department in 2018.

Nicholas Perna, Eagle Scout Class of 2007, Troop 186, Raritan Valley District, rescued a trapped driver after a crash earlier this month. Perna is a police officer in Paramus.