On 4/2/2008 at 2:24pm the Warren Township Police department responded to Roberts Road in Warren Township for the report of an assault.  Upon their arrival, a 20 year old resident charged officers armed with a baseball bat and hand saw.

The first responding officer, Daniel Gleeson, arrived at the residence with his patrol car video camera operating.  The resident is seen (on the video camera) charging out of the driveway towards Officer Gleeson’s vehicle waving the baseball bat and saw.  As Gleeson stopped, the resident attacked the officers’ vehicle smashing the driver side rear window, trunk, and passenger tail lamp with the baseball bat.  The resident next set upon Officer Kevin Gallagher who had pulled up behind Gleeson.  The resident proceeded to smash out Gallagher’s front passenger side window.  Both Officers accelerated and pulled away.

Gleeson and Gallagher now traveling west on Roberts Road with the resident chasing them on foot, slowed their vehicles in an attempt to exhaust the resident.  Officer Gallagher then sped ahead, quickly turned around, and believing he could exit his vehicle to confront the resident, was again attacked in his vehicle as the resident smashed the driver side mirror.

Next to arrive was D/Sgt. William Keane in plain clothes and an unmarked vehicle.  The resident turned his attention from Gallagher and immediately attacked Keane with the baseball bat smashing out both front and rear driver’s side windows, striking Keane and pinning him in the front seat of his vehicle with no avenue to escape.

Officer William Lofton arrived next, immediately followed by Detective Ronald Roselli.  Observing the attack on D/Sgt. Keane, Loften exited his patrol vehicle and with his service weapon drawn, ordered the resident several times to drop his weapons.  However, rather than cease, the resident charged Lofton wielding the baseball bat and saw.  Officer Lofton fired his duty weapon striking the resident three times.  The resident dropped the bat but continued to advance on Lofton with the saw.  Officer Gleeson and Gallagher then tackled the resident, handcuffed him, and immediately began to render first aid until paramedics arrived.  While being cared for the resident made statements that he had wanted the police to kill him.

On 11/9/2008, at approximately 2:18am, Officer Michael Acquaviva and Officer James Raniere of Raritan Borough Police department were investigating a domestic disturbance on Frederick Street, in Raritan NJ. 

During their investigation a heated verbal exchange occurred between 2 members of the household.  Both officers used their training and experience on handling domestic situations and separated the individuals to different locations within the residence.  Within seconds, the heated argument turned serious in nature and now involved a 13 inch kitchen knife that one resident grabbed from the kitchen counter.  The suspect in the case pointed the knife at Officer Raniere, stated “I’ll kill you” and lunged at Officer Raniere’s chest with the knife. 

Officer Acquaviva being alert grabed the arm of the suspect and warned Officer Raniere of the threat by yelling “knife!”.  Officer Raniere reacted to the threat and assisted Officer Acquaviva by bringing the suspect to the ground causing the knife to be dislodged from the suspects’ hand. 

Both Officers showed alertness, bravery and professionalism in handling an incident that could have gone deadly within seconds.  The total timeframe of the officer’s arrival to their transport of the arrested suspect was only 11 minutes.  Both officers used only the necessary force to apprehend the suspect thus preventing injury to themselves and the suspect.  Officer Acquaviva showed bravery and alertness by reacting to the threat with full knowledge of the risk involved and of the possible imminent threat to his and Officer Raniere’s safety. 

Training has informed officers that when there is a knife involved in an incident an injury usually occurs.  In this specific case there was no injury to either the suspect or the officers involved.  Officer Raniere showed bravery and a quick reaction to the threat by immediately assisting Officer Acquaviva in bringing the suspect to the ground and arresting him, knowing that there was substantial risk involved and an imminent threat to his and Officer Acquaviva’s safety.  This incident shows that during a 12 hour patrol shift an officer must maintain all of his or her senses and always be ready for the unexpected.  These officers will always remember the 11 minutes that occurred on 11/9/2009 in the early morning hours.

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