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It began with an East 5th Street burglary Thursday afternoon.
A witness reported seeing 55-year-old David Britt fleeing the house with a black garbage bag filled with stolen valuables, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said.
Investigators already were looking into Britt’s suspected connection to a May 7 break-in in the same neighborhood, Bracken said.
The detectives went to Britt’s Buffalo Avenue home, spotted him outside in a car and moved in to arrest him, the lieutenant said.
Britt apparently had other ideas.
He “immediately rammed one of the police vehicles in an attempt to push the vehicle out of the way,” Bracken said.
Detectives “continuously ordered [him] to comply, [but] he refused,” the lieutenant said. “At one point, one of the detectives had to jump out of the way in order to avoid being struck by the suspect's vehicle.”
Members of the investigative team eventually got into the car and got Britt out after a lengthy struggle, he said.
Britt was hospitalized with injuries sustained in the struggle and was taken to the Passaic County Jail, where he remained on Sunday. He’s charged with two counts of burglary and theft, as well as with aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.
Detectives were also trying to determine the source of burglary proceeds that Bracken said Britt was carrying when he was arrested.
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