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TRENTON -- An undercover police officer acting as a drunken pedestrian along a South Ward street hit the jackpot on the first night of a decoy operation aimed at catching robbers: two teenagers confronted the staggering officer and announced a holdup.
The robbers had a handgun and pointed it at the rookie police officer, setting off a tense chain of events early Tuesday that ended with the two suspects under arrest and one of them suffering a head injury during a scuffle with the police, the department said.
The officer, who police did not identify, also suffered two punches to the abdomen during the midnight showdown at an undisclosed location in the South Ward.
Charged with armed robbery, weapons possession and resisting arrest were Markee J. Green, 18, and a 14-year-old boy who was not identified. The boy remained hospitalized Tuesday with a head injury, suffered when police say he fell as he ran from arresting officers.
The operation was organized by the SAFE unit, which stands for Selective Area Field Enforcement, and pairs rookie cops who graduated from the police academy in June with more experienced tactical anti-crime (TAC) unit officers.
The SAFE units have been deployed as a high-profile street force to target everything from minor quality of life issues to gang enforcement.
On Monday night, the SAFE unit started the decoy effort that places an officer on the streets to act drunk and possibly become an armed robbery target, in an effort to combat a recent spike in robberies in the south and east districts.
Last Wednesday, the city had four robberies in 10 hours, three of them in the east and south districts.
Police have said for several years that patrons leaving taverns in the districts are often targeted for robbery due to their intoxicated state.
That's what occurred Monday night, police say.
As the officer played his part, police spokesman Sgt. Pedro Medina said, the two male suspects approached him riding one bicycle and openly discussed robbing him.
Moments later, though, words turned into actions and Green pulled out a handgun and ordered the decoy to "run his pockets," Medina said. The 14-year-old then reached into the officer's pockets and took his cell phone.
A surveillance team observing the confrontation swung into action, alerting other officers to move in and detain the suspects, Medina said
Before they could make the arrest, the 14-year-old reportedly punched the officer twice in the abdomen, but seeing officers headed toward them, the two suspects started running.
The decoy officer then tackled Green, police said. Green had discarded his gun under a car, Medina said.
The 14-year-old ran a bit farther and fell and suffered a cut to the back of his head, Medina said, then struggled with officers who caught up with him.
Police called for an ambulance, which took the teen to Capital Health System at Fuld hospital, Medina said. The teen suffered a small amount of bleeding on the brain and Tuesday was listed in stable condition, police said.
The department's internal affairs unit was notified of the injury and will investigate, as called for by department policy, Medina said.
Despite the assault on the officer, who found himself facing a gun, and the suspect suffering an injury, Medina said such decoy operations will continue in an effort to deter street crime. This one was deemed a success with two arrests and one handgun taken off the streets.
Medina purposely held back certain details of the Monday night incident so future stings would not be compromised.
Detective Robert Mathes is investigating the two suspects to see if they are responsible for any other recent crimes.
From Aug. 11 to 17, the latest week of crime statistics available, the south and east districts of the city had seven robberies, up from three the previous week.
As of Aug. 17, the city's had a 6.6 percent drop in the total number of robberies versus the date in 2007, with drops of 20 and 19 percent respectively in the south and east districts, the weekly crime reports show.
Only problem with this whole situation is that the suspects need to be made to "fall" a little harder- like enough to kill them and prevent this from happening again. The little bastards will probably be out of jail in less than 24 hours and will go right back to doing to same thing. Where a good set of stairs to "fall" down or a speeding garbage truck to "fall" in front of when you need one????
Only problem with this whole situation is that the suspects need to be made to "fall" a little harder- like enough to kill them and prevent this from happening again. The little bastards will probably be out of jail in less than 24 hours and will go right back to doing to same thing. Where a good set of stairs to "fall" down or a speeding garbage truck to "fall" in front of when you need one????
I agree 100 percent Bob! There has to be some type of scared straight program to keep these kids off the streets. A 14 yr. old out and about at that hr. is ridiculous...
Only problem with this whole situation is that the suspects need to be made to "fall" a little harder- like enough to kill them and prevent this from happening again. The little bastards will probably be out of jail in less than 24 hours and will go right back to doing to same thing. Where a good set of stairs to "fall" down or a speeding garbage truck to "fall" in front of when you need one????
I REALLY hate to say this.............but I agree with you.
Only problem with this whole situation is that the suspects need to be made to "fall" a little harder- like enough to kill them and prevent this from happening again. The little bastards will probably be out of jail in less than 24 hours and will go right back to doing to same thing. Where a good set of stairs to "fall" down or a speeding garbage truck to "fall" in front of when you need one????
So the police should murder the kids? You want to put that weight on the cops? The cops have enough problems -- they don't need to be society's hitmen.
Good job Trenton Police. But whats fortunate and unfortunate is this sting resulted in injuries. The cops suck it up and move on and the Al Sharptons will be in Trenton saying the police brutally beat up the (children) and put there graduation picture in the paper and not their mug shots.
So the police should murder the kids? You want to put that weight on the cops? The cops have enough problems -- they don't need to be society's hitmen.
Definitely don't murder them or even injure them. Just rough'em up a bit. Worked like a charm back in the day. I have relatives in W. Phila and used to go there during summers. We had a beat cop, a huge dude. He lived in the neighborhood. If you did anything wrong at all, he'd tune you up. He knew who you were, where you lived, who your parents were. Not many kids (or young men period) did anything wrong.
Definitely don't murder them or even injure them. Just rough'em up a bit. Worked like a charm back in the day. I have relatives in W. Phila and used to go there during summers. We had a beat cop, a huge dude. He lived in the neighborhood. If you did anything wrong at all, he'd tune you up. He knew who you were, where you lived, who your parents were. Not many kids (or young men period) did anything wrong.
Sunil's dad, I can finally say I agree with you. You must be an old timer. Good for you. The beat cop died years ago when I started because of lawsuits and indictments. It did work though. When I was a teen and was getting into trouble I was afraid of the beat cop more than my parents. Bring back the early 70's and crime would go down
Last edited by JERSEY MAN; 08-27-2008 at 08:27 AM..
So the police should murder the kids? You want to put that weight on the cops? The cops have enough problems -- they don't need to be society's hitmen.
Sometimes accidents happen- that's all I'm saying. You had two little a-holes that were willing to pull a gun on someone, and potentially murder him- I suppose you think they should just get a little reprimand and be sent on their merry way so they can tell all their friends what they did? Or perhaps they should spend 10 years in prison, which costs the taxpayers what, $60k/year each? Maybe if a few of these kids ended up dead, it'd serve as a warning to the others who consider doing such things....
Sunil's dad, I can finally say I agree with you. You must be an old timer. Good for you. The beat cop died years ago when I started because of lawsuits and indictments. I did work though. When I was a teen and was getting into trouble I was afraid of the beat cop more than my parents. Bring back the early 70's and crime would go down
Back in those days you got a double beating
One from the beat cop (no pun on the name) and one from
your parents when you got home.
My problem was one of my uncles was one of the beat cops (so i got it worse than anybody else)
Today
the parents can't even hit the kids, if they do then they have to worry about child services knocking on the door.
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. You must be an old timer. Good for you. The beat cop died years ago when I started because of lawsuits and indictments. It did work though. When I was a teen and was getting into trouble I was afraid of the beat cop more than my parents. Bring back the early 70's and crime would go down
