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Quinn Mayweather, 22, had been free awaiting trial for groping a woman whose car he was trying to steal in Westfield last fall, they said.
He remained held Wednesday in the Essex County Correctional Facility on charges from various police departments – including aggravated assault, assault and robbery.
The victims in Monday's rampage ranged in age from 31 to 60, authorities said.
It began around 4:30 p.m. on Emerson Street near Albion Park in Clifton, where police said Mayweather approached a woman, told her to look him in the eye, then punched her and took her cellphone, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said.
The woman declined to be hospitalized for a cut, bruised and swollen face, he said.
Soon after, Mayweather stopped another woman, dropped his pants and made lewd comments, Bracken said.
Driving a Hyundai Sonata reported stolen earlier that day out of East Orange, Mayweather headed to Nutley, where police said he punched a woman in the face near Bloomfield and Hawthorne avenues.
Moments later, he knocked another woman down on Hillside Avenue, they said.
Mayweather then grabbed another woman from behind near the corner of Franklin and Chestnut streets in what police suspect was an apparent attempt to drag her to the Hyundai, authorities said. He let go and fled after the woman screamed, they said.
A short distance away, Mayweather punched another woman in the face before speeding off, they said.
Belleville police spotted the stolen car and chased Mayweather, who crashed it moments later and was taken into custody.
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