NEWS

Homeless man indicted for alleged attack on police

Daniel J. Kov
@dailyjournalkov

BRIDGETON - A homeless man with a history of making false reports to 911 and attacking responding police officers has been indicted by a Cumberland County grand jury.

Lloyd J. Selfridge, 55, was indicted last week on counts of false public alarm and aggravated assault on a police officer stemming from a June 24 incident.

Selfridge is accused of calling 911 on that date “without purpose of reporting the need for the 911 service,” and then attempting to “cause bodily injury” to responding police officer Rich Morris, according to the indictment.

Morris arrested Selfridge that day.

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Selfridge has an arraignment hearing scheduled for Sept. 19, according to court records, and is currently sitting in Cumberland County Jail on $60,000 bail.

That June day was not the first run-in Selfridge has had with police.

Selfridge has a history of making false reports via 911 and then being combative with responding officers and firefighters, according to previous reports.

On March 25, Selfridge was arrested at a local fast food restaurant on East Broad Street on charges of making false public alarms.

Selfridge allegedly was intoxicated at the restaurant and called police because he thought he was going to have a seizure, police said in their report.

A Bridgeton Fire Department captain told police that Selfridge yelled at him after he asked what the emergency was when he responded to the scene.

Additionally, Selfridge was accused of calling police a total of 21 times “without cause” in a three-month span this year.

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In May 2014, Selfridge was charged with aggravated assault after police responded to the Bridgeton Public Library on reports of a man having a seizure.

Firefighters at the scene dealt with a similar situation as Selfridge was accused of becoming “angry” and “using profanity” when they attempted to help him.

“Selfridge struck a member of the fire department with his elbow as he was being escorted into an ambulance,” police wrote in their report at the time.

Daniel J. Kov; (856) 563-5262; dkov@gannettnj.com​