Swedesboro Man Arrested in Assault that Paralyzed Victim

PRESS RELEASE
June 17, 2011
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bernie Weisenfeld- PIO

Interagency cooperation and use of technology led to the arrest Thursday (6/16) of Aaron Cook (DOB 5/25/76), of 214 Second Street, Swedesboro NJ on charges of second-degree aggravated assault on a 29-year-old Woodbury man who suffered a broken neck that left him paralyzed.

The attack occurred along Kings Highway in Woolwich Township NJ on June 9 when the victim arranged to meet Cook, who he believed had stolen tattooing equipment from him.

According to the criminal charges, the assailant grabbed the victim around the neck, lifted him off his feet, and threw him to the ground, head first. The victim’s girlfriend found him and called Woolwich police, who contacted the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office for assistance in locating the assailant, known to the victim only by the first letter of his first name. Through the GCPO fugitive unit, the name of the suspect was determined and an arrest warrant was issued. Several residences where Cook might be living were identified, though no long-term address was known since Cook had recently been released from federal prison. Data from an automated license plate reader system installed on some municipal police cars in recent years identified where a car belonging to a female acquaintance of Cook’s had been seen in the past week.

On Thursday afternoon, Cook was arrested by Woodbury police while a passenger in the female acquaintance’s car on North Broad Street. He is being held in the Gloucester County Jail in default of $75,000 bail.

Investigating the case were detectives T.J. Daniels of the Woolwich police, the GCPO fugitive unit and Agent Bill Donovan of the GCPO.

“This arrest would not have been possible without the outstanding cooperation and communication between the Woolwich and Woodbury police departments and the GCPO,” said Prosecutor Sean F. Dalton.