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Besides attempted murder, Mark Hunt, 52, is charged with armed robbery, eluding and weapons possession.
Teaneck police said they found the 53-year-old victim with several skull fractures following the pre-dawn Feb. 22 attack. She’d lost a lot of blood, they said.
Hunt took $1,100 in cash and her 2006 Honda Pilot, then hid out in Maywood for a few days, authorities said.
Four days later, a Maywood police officer spotted the vehicle on Beech Street in town and tried pulling it over – but Hunt hit the gas and sped off, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said at the time.
CLIFFVIEW PILOT first broke the story: Route 208 crash, arrest ends chase of Teaneck attempted murder suspect
Paramus and other agencies joined the chase after it moved through Paramus, onto Route 4 West and, ultimately, onto Route 208 West, the prosecutor said.
Hunt lost control of the car on Route 208 at North Ewing Avenue in Franklin Lakes and it slammed into a tree. He was taken into custody after a brief struggle, Molinelli said.
Earlier this year, a judge in Hackensack kept Hunt’s bail at $500,000 after Assistant Bergen County Prosecutor Danielle Grootenboer noted that his rap sheet includes a prior conviction for escape.
“Nothing says flight risk like a felony conviction for escape,” Grootenboer said as the victim watched from a wheelchair, her head wrapped in bandages.
She also said that Hunt has no permanent address and that she “stopped counting after five felonies” on his record.
That record includes:
2008: guilty plea to assault;
2006: burglary;
2003: theft;
2002: theft charges downgraded; pleaded guilty to obstruction of government operations;
1999: theft charges downgraded;
1997: guilty plea to theft;
1994: theft charge dismissed in plea bargain.
In Passaic County he pleaded guilty to theft in 2000 and had another charge of theft merged the same year, records show.
Hunt has challenged the armed robbery charge, saying it was actually a dispute over money. His attorney has claimed that the woman had a knife and that his client “freaked out.”
The indictment returned by a grand jury yesterday in Hackensack alleges that Hunt:
• attempted to cause the victim’s death ;
• caused serious bodily injury under “circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life; recklessly caused serious bodily injury to same”;
• caused serious bodily injury while committing a theft;
• caused bodily injury with a deadly weapon;
• illegally possessed a weapon (two counts);
• stole her car;
• fled and attempted to elude police in three towns “after receiving a signal to stop,” and “operated the vehicle in a manner to create a risk of death or injury;
• gave police false information to hinder his arrest.
FILE PHOTO: CLIFFVIEW PILOT Courthouse Reporter Mary K. Miraglia
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