SOUTH AMBOY — Charges have been filed against a motorist who allegedly drove through a cemetery to elude police and then struck a police officer before being apprehended.
Jeffrey W. Troxell, 49, of South Amboy, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and two counts of eluding police, according to a statement prepared by Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey, Chief Kenneth Cop of the Rutgers University Police Department and Capt. Scott Cartmell of the Piscataway Police Department.
Troxell was charged following an investigation that determined he allegedly fled from Rutgers University police in New Brunswick and from Piscataway police, who reportedly pursued him through Resurrection Cemetery before apprehending him on May 18, according to officials.
During the pursuit, police said a Piscataway officer was struck by the defendant’s vehicle, a 2002 Honda Accord. The officer fired a single shot, but Troxell was not wounded.
Troxell was apprehended with the use of a conducted energy device after his car became mired in soil at the cemetery, according to the statement. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General was notified of the incident, in accordance with the state’s use-of-force guidelines, officials said.
Bail was set at $150,000.
Anyone with information should call Detective Craig Marchak of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3300.
