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L.I. man charged with punching, kicking, spitting blood at Englewood police

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: A Long Island man wanted on warrants in five New Jersey towns punched and kicked several police officers, spat blood at them and threatened to shoot one in the emergency room of a local hospital after being arrested for drunk driving, authorities said.

Photo Credit: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD

Englewood police put a spit cage over the head of 38-year-old Lindenhurst resident Michael Kruk following his pre-dawn arrest Saturday, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT this morning.

Officer Byron Aguayo was on patrol in the 500 block of Grand Avenue, near the Leonia border, when he spotted Kruk’s 2003 BMW idling behind a business that was closed and has been the site of burglaries, Torell said.

Approaching the car, Aguayo saw an open alcohol container, he said.

Kruk “exhibited signs of alcohol intoxication and was found to have a suspended license,” the captain said.

Aguayo ordered him out of the vehicle as backups, and Kruk immediately struck the officer, Torell said.

He struggled as the officer handcuffed and put him in the back of a police cruiser, where he “began striking his head against the metal bars and windows,” he said.

Kruk also slid the handcuffs to the front of his body and charged the officers, punching and kicking, when they opened the car door, Torell said.

At headquarters, Kruk hit two more officers, including a patrol sergeant who was injured and couldn’t return to work, the captain said.

After he spit blood at them, the officers fitted him with the anti-spit cage, then took him and the sergeant to Englewood Medical Center.

There, Krug began menacing emergency room staff and “threatened to grab the gun of one of the officers guarding him and shoot him in the head,” Torell said.

He was restrained, treated and returned to police headquarters, the captain said.

Kruk was being held on $111,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail.

The charges:

•4 counts of aggravated assault on police;
•Two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer with bodily fluids
•Making terroristic threats
•Resisting arrest
•Obstruction
•DUI
•Refusing to provide breath samples
•Driving while suspended (along with other motor vehicles offenses)

Kruk, a native Pole legally residing in the U.S., was put under a federal ICE detainer because of the charges, which could lead to deportation.

He also was wanted on more than $5,000 worth of active warrants out of Garfield, Wood-Ridge, Clifton, Passaic and Riverdale, records show.

A first court appearance was set for Dec. 3.

MUGSHOT: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD

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