JACKSON, NJ – A Wall Township man has been arrested after he attacked a victim with a machete during a street fight Wednesday evening on East Pleasant Grove Road in Jackson.
According to police, at approximately 5:15 pm, officers were dispatched to respond to East Pleasant Grove Road on the report of a group of subjects engaged in a fight in the street in front of a residence.
“While en route to the location, Police Officer Travis Ceppaluni was flagged down on Frank Applegate Road by a vehicle containing several occupants who had been involved in the incident. A male in the vehicle had sustained a severe head laceration which was reportedly caused by another subject at the location striking him in the head with a machete,” Captain Steve Laskiewicz of the Jackson Police Department said. “The victim and the other occupants in the vehicle identified the suspect by name and all [witnesses] alleged that he had used the machete to attack the victim. The victim was treated by First Aid at the scene and then transported to an area hospital for further treatment.”
According to Laskiewicz, officers and detectives who had arrived scene made contact with the suspect and others from the residence.
“During the following investigation, a machete which displayed evidence of having been used in this incident was recovered and a suspect was taken into custody after being positively identified,” Laskiewicz added. “The officer’s investigation, which was also supported by videos of the incident which were obtained by detectives, revealed that the victim was reportedly involved in an ongoing dispute with the suspect and had gone to the residence to confront the suspect.”
Police said the victim exited a vehicle that was parked in the street across from the residence and while standing in the street began calling to the suspect to come out from the residence.
People came out, including Julian Ogle, age 20, of Wall Township with a machete he took from a car in the driveway.
“The suspect then exited the residence and immediately retrieved the machete from a car parked in the driveway and then walked the length of the driveway and into the street to directly confront the victim, who had obtained a beach chair from the trunk of the vehicle when he observed the suspect get the machete,” Laskiewicz said. “The two then swung the items at each other and during the ensuing fight, the victim was struck several times with the machete. It appears the incident was ultimately broken up by uninvolved persons who stopped and intervened.”
According to the police report released today, the investigation revealed multiple other subjects from the residence were involved and that while the victim was on the ground, he was kicked in the head by a second male subject who had exited the residence. Additionally, a female passenger inside the car was forcibly pulled from the vehicle and thrown to the ground and assaulted.