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A half-dozen or so officers, all in plainclothes, ran across Hackensack Avenue from Johnson Park and found the suspect still swinging the knife as the victim’s friends drove off to the hospital with him, Police Chief Tomas Padilla told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.
Although the 6-foot, 220-pound Jared Alexander Thompkins was combative, the officers quickly subdued him, the chief said. He was being held on $100,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.
“Talk about being in the right place at the right time,” Padilla said.
Thompkins, who turned 18 a week ago yesterday, was planning to go for body piercings with his three other friends when he got into an argument with one of them, the chief said.
He then pulled out a folding camouflage knife and stabbed the 19-year-old victim in the neck, Padilla told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
“Two inches forward and it could have been really bad,” he said, adding that the victim was recovering from what turned out to be a relatively minor wound.
Two other friends pulled the victim into their car and took off for Hackensack University Medical Center, as Thompkins tried to chase them, swinging the knife, the chief said.
One of them dialed 911.
“She was screaming about a stabbing,” Padilla said. “All we could make out was Sears. So the officers ran over there.
“We had him before we knew exactly what happened.”
Thompkins tried to kick out the windows of the police car taking him to headquarters, the chief added. Meanwhile, other officers went to HUMC, where they met the victim’s friends bringing him to the emergency room.
Thompkins is charged with:
- aggravated assault with a weapon;
- assault on police;
- eluding — with the substantial risk of physical injury;
- threatening to kill;
- weapons possession offenses.
Meanwhile, thanks to yesterday’s food and clothing drive, co-sponsored by the Hackensack Fire Department, pantries were replenished at Mt. Olive Church, New Hope and St. Anthony’s churches, and at the local Salvation Army.
MUGSHOT (above): Jared Alexander Thompkins (courtesy HACKENSACK PD)
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