Large Secaucus Police Presence On Clarendon After Hostage Report

SECAUCUS, NJ — Many in Secaucus noticed the large police presence, helicopters flying above and blocked-off streets Monday afternoon in town.

This was due to Secaucus Police responding after they got a 911 call of a man holding a woman hostage Monday afternoon in a basement apartment on Clarendon Street. However, while Secaucus and Bayonne Police located the man, criminally charged him and safely located the woman, police are still investigating what exactly happened Monday inside the basement apartment.

At 3:16 p.m. Monday, Secaucus Police were called to the 300 block of Clarendon Street for a 911 call of a victim being held against her will in a basement apartment.

It was a family member of the woman who first called 911. Secaucus Police were also initially told the woman had been assaulted and was injured, as well.

The family member said the suspect was armed and possibly suffering from mental illness.

Responding Secaucus police officers established a perimeter around the home and called in tactical support from the Hudson County Regional SWAT team. People who live in neighboring homes on Clarendon Street were also evacuated, as a precaution.

Later information was then received that the man and the woman were no longer in Secaucus and were in a car somewhere in Hudson County.

Secaucus Police broadcast that information to surrounding law enforcement agencies, and the car, with the man and woman inside, was stopped by Bayonne Police in Bayonne.

"The victim was found with some minor injuries, but otherwise in good health," said Secaucus Police.

The suspect was detained and ultimately arrested by the Secaucus Police Department.

The man was charged with aggravated assault by strangulation and simple assault under the domestic violence laws. He was lodged in the Hudson County jail. His name was not released by Secaucus Police.

As of Tuesday morning:

"The investigation is ongoing and it is being investigated if the victim was being held against her will and/or if the suspect was armed during the encounter," said Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller.

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