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Lawrence Eugene Jones, 56, dropped a bag he was carrying when he spotted the officer on Jones Road early Thursday afternoon, Detective Lt. Fred Pulice said.
Jones is well known to law enforcement in the area.
He’s been arrested dozens of times over more than two decades, mostly for drug-related crimes that include dealing, aggravated assault, forgery and probation violations, among other offenses, according to criminal records.
The most serious was a gun conviction stemming from a drug arrest in late 2000 that sent him to prison, records show.
Jones did his time, then was in trouble again: Englewood police arrested him for aggravated assault with a weapon and making terroristic threats in November 2006.
Just last year, Jones was charged with dealing, resisting arrest and obstruction, also in Englewood. He was quickly released, records show.
The officer in the Oct. 26 incident asked Jones if the bag was his, then went to pick it up to examine it, Pulice said.
Jones snatched the bag and went after the officer, the lieutenant said.
The officer seized Jones and the bag, which Pulice said contained drugs, and took him into custody.
Jones was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, drug possession and obstruction and sent to the Bergen County Jail.
A judge in Hackensack released him the very next day, jail records show.
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