White Robbinsville Police Officer Goes Off - Attacks Disabled White woman in wheelchair
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 at 03:58AM A Robbinsville police officer was charged with aggravated assault following an attack on a 45-year-old woman and her 4-year-old son Monday night at Project Freedom, which provides housing for the disabled.
Sgt. Mark Lee was on-duty during the assaults, which took place as a wheelchair-bound relative of the victims looked on in horror.
Lee was charged with official misconduct, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, five counts of aggravated assault upon a police officer, and one count each of burglary, harassment and criminal mischief.
On Monday about 9:30 p.m., Robbinsville police responded to a residence at Project Freedom on a report that a woman was being assaulted, according to a news release from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Witness statements allege Lee entered the home and followed the woman and child into a bathroom; a struggle ensued and Lee assaulted both of them.
“He just went off his rocker,” said Bill Sabo, the father of the female victim. “He ripped off all his clothes, threw them on the floor, knocked my daughter out of her wheelchair and began choking her.”
The mother and child were able to make their way into the master bedroom with a caretaker and call the police. Lee proceeded to break into the bedroom, knock the mother from her wheelchair and assault her again. Sabo was in the living room and confined to his wheelchair as the incident unfolded.
When police responded minutes later, Lee was sitting on a couch in the residence repeatedly saying “I did a bad thing,” according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
He was taken into police custody but escaped after kicking out the side rear window of a police car as he was being taken away. He was arrested after a foot chase and a struggle.
Lee, 44, who has been on the force for 18 years, was taken to the Crisis Center at Capital Health medical center. The woman and her son were taken to a local hospital where the woman was treated for scrathes and bruises on her neck, back and feet, while the son had scratches on his neck and back, Sabo said.
“ was clawing at him like a nut,” Sabo said. “He’s a police officer, he’s supposed to protect people. He should be kicked off the force.”