RED BANK: K9 FINDS SHOPLIFTING SUSPECT
By JOHN T. WARD
A Neptune man faces charges after a struggle with police trying to arrest him on shoplifting charges Monday evening, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
According to McConnell, police responded around 8 p.m. to a report of theft at the Walgreens store on Broad Street.
The suspect had fled after stealing several cartridges of compressed air or gas, which are often misused by subjects “attempting to obtain a level of intoxication,” McConnell said.
Patrolman Stan Balmer of the K9 unit, who was the first on the scene, utilized K9 Hunter, seen above right, to track the suspect, and ultimately found him “hiding in dense trees and underbrush a short distance from the store,” McConnell said.
“Upon arrival of additional officers, the suspect would not comply and resisted attempts to take him into custody. After a brief struggle, he was ultimately handcuffed,” he told redbankgreen.
Marcus Seward, 33, was charged with shoplifting, possession of toxic chemical for the purpose of intoxication, inhalation of toxic chemical for purpose of intoxication, and resisting arrest. He was transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, where he remained listed as an inmate at noontime Tuesday.