5-Hour Point Pleasant Standoff Ends With PA Man's Arrest

Point Pleasant NJ

29 November, 2021

4:31 PM

Description

POINT PLEASANT, NJ — A Pennsylvania man was arrested Sunday morning after a five-hour standoff at a home in Point Pleasant, police said Monday. Kareem R. Blagman, 41, of Chester, Pennsylvania, has been charged with aggravated assault on law enforcement, terroristic threats and obstruction of the administration of law in the incident that started with an attempted motor vehicle stop early Sunday morning, Point Pleasant Police Capt. Adam T. Picca said. Get local news updates delivered to your inbox. Sign up for Patch alerts and daily newsletters here. Picca said Blagman was driving a vehicle that was not registered to him when Point Pleasant Police Officer David Ippolito tried to pull over the vehicle about 12:50 a.m. because it was being driven without its headlights on. Blagman, whose identity was not known when Ippolito tried to pull him over, pulled into a driveway on Barbara Drive, instead of stopping, and then ran into the home, Picca said. Ippolito tried to talk to Blagman from outside the home when Blagman punched through the glass of a bay window, Picca said. Ippolito was hit with flying glass and suffered an injury to his face and eyes, he said. Blagman then refused to come out of the house, and started threatening to shoot and kill the police officers as additional officers arrived and set up a perimeter around the house, Picca said. During the investigation at the scene, police learned Blagman had been involved in an incident in Bay Head just before he encountered Ippolito. Police from Bay Head, Point Pleasant Beach and Mantoloking assisted with street closures while Lt. Christopher Leonhardt, the Point Pleasant Police Department crisis negotiator, spoke with Blagman. The Ocean County Regional SWAT also arrived and after about five hours, Blagman agreed to come out of the house, Picca said. He was arrested without incident. Picca said Polic Officer Matthew Mergner filed the charges. Blagman is being held at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, awaiting a detention hearing. Have a news tip? Email [email protected] Follow Point Pleasant Patch on Facebook.