BAYONNE - After getting fired from his job, a Vauxhall man has been accused of plunging his boss' pick-up truck into Newark Bay while both of them watched, according to Bayonne police.

John J. Schneider, 55, stored a boat at his employer's auto business in Hillside until he was recently let go, Bayonne police Lt. Janine Foy said. Schneider's boss - Leon Lewinson, 60, of Hillside -- then told him to move the boat off the property.

Lewinson let Schneider borrow his 2006 GMC Sienna pick-up truck and a trailer to tow the boat away, Foy said. Lewinson said he and a mechanic followed Schneider in two separate cars, planning on helping him unload the boat.

Schneider then drove the truck with the trailer attached to it, and his boat on the trailer, to 16th Street Park in Bayonne, where he drove straight through a locked gate to a boat launch area, Foy said.

Lewinson said he and the mechanic watched in horror as Schenider kept on going, plunging the truck deep into the Newark Bay.

"He just drove straight in," he said.

Schenider was able to exit the truck, wet but unharmed, at which point he started shouting profanities, making obscene gestures and pulling his pants down to reveal his buttocks, Lewinson said.

Lewinson then called police, and when officers arrived, they arrested Schenider on the charges of criminal mischief and defiant trespass and issued him a summons for reckless driving. He was later released on summonses.

The engine compartment of the truck ended up fully submerged in the water,

and the vehicle was towed away at the boss' request, Foy said. Because no one could take charge of the boat, it was impounded.

"The truck and trailer are totaled," Lewinson said, noting that he had just purchased both recently for thousands of dollars.

Lewinson said he had given Schneider some part-time work for a period less than two months towing vehicles for charitable organizations.