Friday, June 4, 2010

Strasser Charged in Knife Incident That Led to Chesterfield Shooting


By Alicia Cruz
The Black Urban Times


The man shot by police in front of his home after he attacked officers who responded to a call of a disturbed person at his Bordentown-Chesterfield Road home last month appeared in court last week after the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office announced it's decision to file charges against him.

The NJTimes.com reported that Christopher Strasser, of Chesterfield, has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, two counts of attempted murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. Trial dates have not yet been set for Strasser or if he has retained an attorney.

The Trentonian reported that Chesterfield police were called to Strasser's home by his parents, Henry and Aida Maria Strasser back on May 4. When they arrived, they knocked on the door of the home only to find it open. Suddenly, Strasser, 36, appeared and lunged at officer Brian Schoen with a long kitchen knife and was shot several times by Schoen’s partner, Michael Fraas.

Officials have not confirmed how many shots were fired during that incident or how many times Strasser, who underwent hours of surgery at Capital Health Regional (Fuld), was hit. Schoen was treated for the knife wound to his arm and released, Joel Bewley, spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office told the Burlington County Times.

Both Schoen and officer Fraas are five-year veterans of the police force and were placed on administrative leave after the shooting.

The Burlington County Times reported that officer Schoen was on duty nine years ago in October 2001 when a deranged soldier from Fort Dix attacked him and his partner. As Schoen, who was his department's D.A.R.E. officer at the time, and his partner sat inside of their patrol car near the New Jersey Turnpike overpass on Ward Avenue, Specialist Loren Janeczko, then a military policeman, ambushed the officers firing several shots at them, wounding Schoen's partner before stealing their patrol car. Janeczko's fury of terror ended later that afternoon at the Columbus Farmers Market in Springfield, where the soldier wounded a Mansfield police officer before being shot and killed by then-Mansfield Chief James Humble.

Janeczko, of Fincastle, Virginia, was a disturbed soldier who was being discharged from the military due to his erratic behavior when he shot and wounded two fellow MPs aboard Fort Dix before fleeing in a Department of Defense vehicle and going on a bloody shooting spree.

Neighbors said the knife-wielding incident was not the first time police had been called to the Bordentown-Chesterfield Road residence. Strasser remains behind bars at the Burlington County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

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