PA Man Who Threatened To Shoot Police Arrested After 5-Hour Point Pleasant Standoff

POINT PLEASANT, NJ — A Pennsylvania man was arrested Sunday morning after a five-hour standoff at a home in Point Pleasant, police said Monday.

Kareem R. Blagman, 41, of Chester, Pennsylvania, has been charged with aggravated assault on law enforcement, terroristic threats and obstruction of the administration of law in the incident that started with an attempted motor vehicle stop early Sunday morning, Point Pleasant Police Capt. Adam T. Picca said.

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Picca said Blagman was driving a vehicle that was not registered to him when Point Pleasant Police Officer David Ippolito tried to pull over the vehicle about 12:50 a.m. because it was being driven without its headlights on.

Blagman, whose identity was not known when Ippolito tried to pull him over, pulled into a driveway on Barbara Drive, instead of stopping, and then ran into the home, Picca said. Blagman was staying at the Barbara Drive home and was the only person there at the time of the standoff, he said.

Ippolito tried to talk to Blagman from outside the home when Blagman punched through the glass of a bay window, Picca said. Ippolito was hit with flying glass and suffered an injury to his face and eyes, he said.

Blagman then refused to come out of the house, and started threatening to shoot and kill the police officers as additional officers arrived and set up a perimeter around the house, Picca said. Roads were closed to traffic at Herbertsville Road and Barbara Drive and at Nancy Drive where it intersects with Barbara Drive, and surrounding residents were told to stay in their homes.

During the investigation at the scene, police learned Blagman had been involved in an incident in Bay Head just before he encountered Ippolito. Picca could not provide additional information on that incident.

Police from Bay Head, Point Pleasant Beach and Mantoloking assisted with street closures while Lt. Christopher Leonhardt, the Point Pleasant Police Department crisis negotiator, spoke with Blagman. The Ocean County Regional SWAT also arrived and after about five hours, Blagman agreed to come out of the house, Picca said.

He was arrested without incident. Picca said Polic Officer Matthew Mergner filed the charges.

Ippolito suffered minor injuries to his face and eyes and was taken to Ocean Medical Center in Brick, where he was treated and released.

Blagman is being held at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, awaiting a detention hearing.

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