SWAT STANDOFF: Stabbed suspect sets fire, throws furniture out window, seized after struggle

A stabbed suspect set his clothes on fire, then began throwing furniture at police cruisers through the window of his second-floor Clifton apartment on Thursday before a Passaic County Sheriff’s SWAT team burst in and seize him, authorities said.

Police attempted to negotiate with the combative 32-year-old tenant after determining the fire had been extinguished at the Lexington Avenue apartment above a city business, Detective Lt. Robert Bracken said.

But he only “got more upset and started throwing chairs and other hard objects out the second-story window, damaging patrol cars that were parked outside,” Bracken said.

It was while they were trying to talk him out of it that police realized he was wanted for aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for a stabbing on Highland Avenue a few weeks ago, Lt. .

Two hours passed before members of the Passaic County Sheriff’s SWAT team threw a flash grenade and rushed into the apartment.

One of them suffered an arm injury in a fight and was taken to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center for treatment, Bracken said.

The suspect was also taken to St. Joe’s, where he was assessed and treated. Given the situation, his identity has not been publicly revealed.

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