Police blotter
The information below was provided by police unless otherwise noted.
Trenton
Shooting: Cops responded to a shooting early Wednesday morning on the 400 block of South Logan Avenue. A 31-year-old man told cops a masked assailant struck him with his sports utility vehicle, knocking him to the ground, then opened fire. None of the bullets struck the man, who ran for his life. He went up to the vehicle and asked the driver “what he wanted,” a police spokesman said, prior to the hail of bullets. The victim apparently wasn’t too cooperative with cops. The Shooting Response Team is investigating.
No Netflix and Chill: David Randall, 29, was hit with a simple assault charge after
Anthony Frink, left, and Michael Utter.
cops said he got into his ex-girlfriend’s apartment through an unlocked window, hit her and smashed her television, cops said. He was also hit with burglary charges. The extent of the victim’s injuries wasn’t clear.
Leave, Please: Chauncey McDonald, 49, was charged with criminal trespassing after cops were called out to the 1100 block of Chestnut Avenue. A home owner found McDonald in the vacant apartment, cops said.
Swigging: Anthony Frink, 30, was popped with drugs by the street crimes unit, cops said. They stopped him near Oakland and Mellon streets after they saw him with an open bottle of alcohol, cops said. He had a warrant out for his arrest and cops found a small amount of pot on him.
Stop Resisting: Michael Utter, 22, was picked up at the city rescue mission, and while he was being cuffed, he resisted arrest, cops said. He also had pot on him, cops said.
Busted Up: Hector Gonzalez, 51, was hit with charges including burglary after cops said he was found rummaging through someone’s car. The car owner heard noise outside in the driveway and went outside to see who was astir. When he saw the burglar pilfering his car, he confronted him with a baseball bat. The owner apparently went Barry Bonds home-run slugger on Hernandez, who ended up injured. He had a cut on his head and his left arm was hurt, cops said. The batting remains under investigation by cops who are determining whether the force was justified, a police spokesman said.
Hamilton Township
Fake News: A YouTube video of an armed heist at a 7-Eleven which had about 1.5 million hits online by Wednesday afternoon forced township cops to issue a news release debunking internet chatter that the surveillance tape was from a township store. The post from YouTube user Myles T initially said the video was of a 7-Eleven in Hamilton “near Ham West HS” and generated more than 1,500 comments. Myles T later edited the post after a news report pointed out the robbery didn’t take place in the township. “Damn good shot! One bad neighborhood USA, Maybe Compton CA according to NJ.com. Got it from a NJ 7-11 who thought it was Hamilton West HS adjacent. Hamilton Cops investigated? Nothing better to do?” the user wrote. Lt. Michael Kelvy later in the day explained the footage, showing a security guard interrupting the armed holdup, shooting the masked bandits, and shouting “Mine’s real” when one of the robbers told him the gun was fake, was from a heist in Compton, Calif. Kelvy noted he had been contacted by a “few news sources” over the video. The Trentonian was among the news publications to reach out to Hamilton Cops. A reporter on Monday visited the township convenience store where the robbery allegedly went down. A store clerk confirmed the surveillance was from an armed robbery in the Golden State. A police dispatcher also threw cold water on the rumor, saying he saw the video and the inside of the store didn’t resemble the one on South Broad Street and East Park Avenue. “People talk,” the dispatcher said. Officially, the word from Kelvy was that the video was looked into and cops confirmed with 7-Eleven corporate brass “that the robbery occurred in Compton, California.” The rumor was fueled by three real robberies in the township, including at two 7-Elevens, since the start of the year, believed to be committed by the another pair of masked men. Cops continue to investigate those holdups.