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Scott Recanati, 50, had gone there Saturday afternoon, Sept. 24, to complain about a victim whom he was under a court order not to contact, Police Chief James Walters said.
What he may or may not have known was that the victim had just shown police text messages that he’d sent that same day, the chief said.
When Officers Joseph Montemurro and Officer Max Katzner told Recanati they'd have to arrest him for violating a restraining order, "he became irate and started to escape towards the door,” Walters said.
Montemurro grabbed Recanati, who, he said, “actively began ignoring commands and resisting arrest."
Katzner took Recanati down and Detective Sgt. Adam Warne helped get him into handcuffs, Walters said.
Katzner sustained minor injuries to both knees but refused medical attention. Both officers completed use-of-force reports, the chief said.
Recanati has a violent history, with a string of arrests out of various towns – including Fort Lee, Teaneck and Carlstadt – for offenses that include aggravated assault, robbery, resisting arrest, hindering, making death threats and weapons possession, records show.
Recanati has served nearly seven of the past nine years in three separate state prison stints following multiple convictions for robbery, burglary and stalking. He was released this past February following the latest stretch.
Recanati was captured in the Meadowlands marshes after robbing a group of tourists from Virginia at knifepoint in July 2013.
Three victims were walking back to the Econo Lodge on Washington Avenue with two six packs of beer from Redd’s Restaurant shortly after arriving in town when Recanati mugged them, police said at the time.
Wearing a ski mask and pointing a switchblade, he took $540 in cash and left the beer, they said. He also told one of he knew people in Virginia who’d kill anyone who called police.
Recanati then tried robbing their bus driver, but she whacked him with her handbag, chasing him off, police said.
This time, Little Ferry police charged Recanati with two counts each of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest. He was also charged with violating a restraining order. They sent him to the county jail, where he remained on Monday.
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