POINT PLEASANT – An officer pulling over a car without headlights turned into a situation where the driver fled into a house and barricaded himself inside.
Police said Kareem Blagman, 41, of Chester, PA was driving at around 1 a.m. on November 28 without headlights on. When Officer David Ippolito tried to pull him over, he parked the vehicle in a driveway on Barbara Drive and fled into the house.
While Ippolito was trying to talk to Blagman, the suspect punched through the glass of a bay window, resulting in injury to the officer’s face and eyes.
Police said that Blagman threatened to shoot and kill officers and that he was just involved in an incident in Bay Head. This incident was not shared by police.
Officers from Bay Head, Point Pleasant Beach, and Mantoloking closed down the street and a regional SWAT team arrived.
Point Pleasant’s Crisis Negotiator Lt. Christopher Leonhardt established contact. After five hours of communicating, Blagman agreed to come out and he was arrested without incident. He was charged with Aggravated Assault on Law Enforcement, Terroristic Threats, and Obstruction of the Administration of Law.
