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Francis J. Ciprian, 38, of West New York apparently left his girlfriend behind when he bailed out of the truck after it hit some containers on Gates Road near the Hackensack River shortly after 4 a.m. Aug. 28, police said.
Officers responding to the crash were investigating when he approached them from up the street shouting obscenities, Little Ferry Police Chief James Walters said.
Cyprian, who appeared drunk, was "yelling and walking around aimlessly in a hostile manner" while threatening the officers, the chief said.
Noticing small cuts on his hands, apparently caused by barbed wire, they asked if he'd be willing to go to the hospital because he was a danger to himself and others in his condition.
Ciprian refused, Walters said.
His continuing "hostile, aggressive and disorderly" behavior prompted a call for aid from Moonachie police, the chief said.
Ciprian continued giving his officers a hard time, the chief said, so they brought him in custody to headquarters.
Once they arrived, Ciprian resumed threatening the officers, he said.
One of them removed a hand restraint in an attempt to secure Ciprian to a bench, Walters said, but he "immediately lunged and threw a punch with a closed fist."
At that point the officers got him down and into handcuffs, he said. One of them sustained a cut on his arm during the struggle, but the injury wasn't serious, the chief said.
"The officers showed a great deal of restraint," Walters said. "They dealt with him calmly for over a half hour. But he just wouldn't stop."
Ciprian was charged with two counts each of aggravated assault on a police officer and making terroristic threats, among other offenses. He also received summonses in connection with the crash.
He was sent to the Bergen County Jail before a judge ordered his release the following day under New Jersey's bail reform law, records show.
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