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The 57-year-old victim had just parked his car and was headed home in the 600 block of Palisade Avenue on July 6 when he was rushed by the assailant, who'd been sitting on a nearby bench, Detective Capt. Vincent Capano said.
The attacker punched him in the face, threw him to the ground and stabbed him in the arm and back with a folding knife before fleeing, Capano said.
Borough detectives distributed a video surveillance image and a sketch produced by a New Jersey State Police artist to Daily Voice and area law enforcement.
SEEN HIM? Cliffside Park Police Release Images Of Assailant Who Stabbed, Beat Borough Resident
Ridgefield Park Police Sgt Justin Tress immediately identified the suspect as 31-year-old ex-con Ricardo Waite.
Waite has an adult criminal history stretching back more than a decade, with charges that include robbery, aggravated assault, resisting arrest, weapons offenses, false imprisonment and making terroristic threats.
He spent 10 months in the Bergen County Jail before being released this past April following convictions for aggravated assault and making terroristic threats in Ridgefield Park the previous June.
Nearly five years ago, police in Englewood said Waite threatened to commit "suicide by cop" when his mother said she wanted to have him psychologically evaluated.
SEE: Woman Runs Screaming Into Englewood Police HQ After Son Threatens Suicide By Cop
Waite was taken into custody at New Bridge Medical Center and sent to the Bergen County Jail in the Cliffside Park case. He's charged with bias intimidation, aggravated assault and weapons offenses.
Cliffside Park police collected a series of surveillance videos from homeowners and businesses. After seeing Waite toss the knife, they retrieved it from an alleyway on Crescent Lane near the 7-Eleven on Palisade Avenue, Capano said.
DNA from the knife was being compared to Waite's.
The victim was treated at Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen for serious injuries before being released.
Meanwhile, Capano said that Cliffside Park police "thank the Ridgefield Park police for their assistance."
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