Bad Ideas: Biting Cops, Jumping From Bridges

Many of New Jersey's police departments do fine, thorough, painstaking work. But that can get exhausting, so they've got to appreciate when alleged criminals don't even try to fly under the radar.

They probably appreciate it a little less when someone tries to fly off a bridge, however.

Each Monday, Patch takes a peek at some of the more surprising, shocking, stunning and occasionally silly police-related incidents reported throughout New Jersey for "OMGs from NJ PDs." This week, we're paying particular attention to reports of people who, well, the cops would have a had a hard time missing

In one case, the alleged crime practically (heck, literally) jumped up and bit the officers.

Take a look:

If All Your Friends Jumped Off the Ocean City-Longport Bridge, Would You? Ocean City police say that for two men, the answer is apparently yes. They say two men jumpstarted a multi-agency search for survivors when they took the 70ish-foot plunge for fun. Everyone was ultimately found and deemed safe ... though a few people went home facing charges they caused a false public alarm.

Gulp! If we've learned one thing from writing about crime news week after week, it's this: Don't jam razors down your pants. But if we've learned two things, the other is that a successful crime takes a certain amount of subtlety, of finesse. Gloucester Township police say the man accused of stealing an idling car from in front of a convenience store didn't exhibit much of either. Cops say they pulled him over while he was chatting on a cell phone, drinking a beer. Not the best way to stay under the radar.

In And Out of Court, Part 1: Gloucester Township police arrested a Runnemede man who just might like the inside of a courthouse a bit too much. He'd just left the township's municipal court, police said, when he walked across the street to a gas station and stole an employee's bicycle. That's just how he rolls.

In and Out of Court, Part 2: Bike robbery must be too small-time for the justice system's frequent flyers in northern New Jersey. Morristown police say they nabbed a man who, immediately after leaving court to face charges of credit card theft and burglary, tried to break into a home. Police say the man was seen mid-day trying to climb in to a window.

That Bites: You know what we recommend against? Well, pretty much any behavior described in our OMGs columns. But specifically, we think it's a bad idea to pick a fight with the cops, as we've made clear in several of our You Don't Tug on Superman's Cape segments. But one resident of Bloomfield must not be a Patch reader, because police say he called 911 to curse at cops, then attacked the officers who showed up at his door. They say he kicked one officer in the hand, tried to grab another by the neck, and tried to bite one of the officers.