Bloody Fight Erupts In Montclair School Board Parking Lot: Police

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A bloody fight involving construction tools and “vehicles ramming into each other” took place outside a Montclair Board of Education building last week, authorities announced Tuesday.

According to the Montclair Police Department, officers responded to 22 Valley Road around 8 p.m. on Friday after getting a report about a fight involving weapons. Multiple callers said there were two pickup trucks “ramming into each other” in the parking lot.

Officers arrived at the scene and separated the combatants: a 58-year-old male from Randolph – who was covered in blood – and a 60-year-old male from Fairfield.

Police said that both vehicles were damaged, with shards of their taillights strewn across the parking lot and a “significant amount of fresh blood” on the ground near one of their driver’s side doors.

Montclair EMS and Glen Ridge EMS crews responded and treated both men.

According to police, here’s what allegedly led to the assault:

“The victim (male from Randolph) reported that he was meeting a friend and parked in the Board of Education parking lot when his vehicle was intentionally struck by the suspect. Both men exited their vehicles and a verbal argument ensued. The argument quickly turned physical. Eyewitnesses reported that the suspect (male from Fairfield) retrieved a masonry hammer from his vehicle and began striking the victim in the head with it. The suspect then retrieved a 3-foot leveling tool and struck the victim with this as well, resulting in severe lacerations to the victim’s head.”

Police said the injured Randolph resident was transported to Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in Paterson. He was later released from the hospital.

The Fairfield resident was transported to Mountainside Medical Center in Montclair. He was later charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and remanded to the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, police said.

No additional information, including the identities of the involved parties, was available in an initial police statement.

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