A gun drawn by an off-duty Passaic County sheriff’s
officer accidentally discharged when he was attacked by his cousin, a resident
of the Whitehouse Motel, according to Readington Police Chief Sebastian
Donaruma and Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns.
Kearns and Donaruma gave the following account
of the arrest of Marcus E. Cook, 23, of Whitehouse on Feb. 23.
At about 9:25 p.m. township police were sent
to the Whitehouse Motel for a “domestic assault in progress, weapons involved
and shots fired.”
Once at the motel, police found a resident of
the motel, later identified as Cook, combative and apparently intoxicated. They
learned that the sheriff’s officer had offered to pay for a meal for Cook, but
Cook demanded cash instead of food. When his cousin refused, Cook allegedly
assaulted him, and when he tried to hit the man with a blunt object, the
sheriff’s officer drew his weapon and the firearm accidentally discharged. No
injuries were reported as a result of the shot.
Donaruma said that Cook attacked the
investigating Readington police officer. When Cook was taken into custody,
police said, he continually spit and threw blood on the officers. He is said to
have purposely urinated on the police headquarters floor.
Cook was charged with resisting arrest,
aggravated assault on a police officer, exposing a law enforcement officer to
bodily fluids, obstruction of justice and criminal mischief. He was brought to
the county jail with bail set at $35,000.
The sheriff’s officer’s name was withheld as
he is considered the victim of domestic violence.
The incident is still under investigation by
the Prosecutor’s Office and Readington Township Police.
