Montclair Store Clerk Attacked During Shoplifting: Police

MONTCLAIR, NJ — An East Orange man has been accused of attacking a store clerk in Montclair during a shoplifting incident last week, police announced Wednesday.

According to the Montclair Police Department, officers responded to The Wine Guys on Bloomfield Avenue on Saturday after getting a report about a shoplifting. Bystanders flagged down the responding officers, telling them that a man was running through rear yards on Montague Place.

Witnesses told officers that the man physically attacked a store clerk before fleeing the scene, police said.

Officers later found the suspect, a 28-year-old East Orange resident, hiding in the rear yards on Montague Place. He was arrested and charged with robbery, resisting arrest and aggravated assault, then transported to the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark.

The victim was treated for facial injuries and abrasions to his right elbow, police said.

The suspect's identity wasn't available in an initial police news release.

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