71°
Officer Bryan Mone stopped the car driven by 25-year-old Alexandra Defino for a traffic violation on River Road late Thursday night, Detective Sergeant Kevin Van Saders said.
Defino “became increasingly loud and uncooperative,” refused to submit to a sobriety test, then “began fighting with police and resisting arrest,” Van Saders said.
The 5-foot-5-inch, 142-pound DeFino – who played softball, basketball and soccer at New Milford High School – “then made threats to the police, specifically that she was going to kill the officers on scene and also made threats to the officers’ family members,” the sergeant said.
Defino damaged the rear door of the police cruiser “by continuously kicking it,” Van Saders said.
Once at headquarters, she “physically obstructed the processing phase of her arrest, fighting with officers while they attempted to fingerprint and photograph her,” he said.
They were placing her in a holding cell when Defino struck two officers, Van Saders said. Neither was seriously injured, he said.
Police charged her with nine criminal offenses -- two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, three counts of making terroristic threats, resisting arrest, obstruction, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief – along with DWI.
DeFino was booked into the Bergen County Jail, only to have a judge order her release hours later, pending further court action, under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform act.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bergenfield and receive free news updates.
