May 16, 2022
JACKSON, NJ (OCEAN)–Jackson Police reported that on Wednesday May 11, 2022 at approximately 5:15 pm, officers were dispatched to respond to East Pleasant Grove Road on the report of a group of subjects engaged in a fight in the street in front of a residence.While enroute to the location, Police Officer Travis Ceppaluni was flagged down on Frank Applegate Road by a vehicle containing several occupants who had been involved in the incident. A male in the vehicle had sustained a severe head laceration which was reportedly caused by another subject at the location striking him in the head with a machete. The victim and the other occupants in the vehicle identified the suspect by name and all alleged that he had used the machete to attack the victim. The victim was treated by First Aid at the scene and then transported to an area hospital for further treatment.Officers and detectives who had arrived at the residence on East Pleasant Grove Road made contact with the suspect and others from the residence. During the following investigation, a machete which displayed evidence of having been used in this incident was recovered and a suspect was taken into custody after being positively identified.The officer’s investigation, which was also supported by videos of the incident which were obtained by detectives, revealed that the victim was reportedly involved in an ongoing dispute with the suspect and had gone to the residence to confront the suspect. The victim exited a vehicle which was parked in the street across from the residence and while standing in the street began calling to the suspect to come out from the residence. The suspect then exited the residence and immediately retrieved the machete from a car parked in the driveway and then walked the length of the driveway and into the street to directly confront the victim, who had obtained a beach chair from the trunk of the vehicle when he observed the suspect get the machete. The two then swung the items at each other and during the ensuing fight, the victim was struck several times with the machete. It appears the incident was ultimately broken up by uninvolved persons who stopped and intervened.
Also discovered in the investigation was that multiple other subjects from the residence were involved and that while the victim was on the ground, he was kicked in the head by a second male subject who had exited the residence. Additionally, a female passenger inside the car was forcibly pulled from the vehicle and thrown to the ground and assaulted.