SOUTH BRUNSWICK – Four teens’ violation of the governor’s orders resulted in an officer being injured.
“These are challenging times and every call presents a heightened danger for officers. Most people are following the rules, but these four seem willing to do whatever they wanted and it resulted in an officer being injured. I will not have my officers’ safety put at risk by people who recklessly decided to break the governor’s order and commit crimes,” Police Chief Raymond Hayducka said in a statement on April 19.
At 3:30 a.m., police were called by a resident who said they saw suspects enter a home by going through a first-floor window. Officers arrived at 14 Point of Woods Dr. and reportedly observed the suspects running inside the home, according to the statement. Officers began to search the home and took three suspects into custody quickly.
Officer Kent English was searching the second-floor interior when he fell through floor and landed 10 feet below on the first floor. English suffered injuries to his abdomen and was transported by Kendall Park First Aid Squad to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick. He was released from the hospital and is recovering at home, according to the statement.
A fourth suspect was later located.
All of the suspects are being charged with burglary and violating the executive order. One suspect is an 18-year-old resident of Kendall Park; the other three are juveniles – two 17-year-olds, one 16-year-old.
“I want to make this clear, do not violate the Governor’s Executive Order, we will have zero-tolerance. None of what happened this morning needed to take place if people were responsible. We are working too hard to stop this virus to have people recklessly create more problems,” Hayducka said in the statement.
