Bloomfield Police Report Two Assaults

Bloomfield Police reported two incidences involving assaults.

Police arrested a Bronx, New York man after a 9-year-old boy told his mother the man had tried to stab him inside a convenience store.

The incident began on Saturday, Sept. 8, the boy went into a bodega-style store on the corner of Dodd and Lawrence Streets to buy a drink. He reported to his mother that while he was inside the store, a man grabbed him by the neck and forced him to the ground. The boy said that the man, whom he did not recognize, then tried to stab him with a sharp pen-like object.

Two people passing by began yelling and the man released the boy and ran south toward Lawrence Street, the boy said. He was not harmed.

After the boy’s mother reported the incident, police searched the area and found a man fitting the description of the man. Officer Teobaldo Osis questioned and arrested the man, who was later identified as Noe Andres Diaz-Rodriguez, 25, of the Bronx, New York.

Diaz-Rodriguez was charged with aggravated assault. His bail was set $50,000 with a court date of September 13.

The second incident occurred at 3:31 p.m. Tuesday, when police responded to a woman they believed had fallen and found out she had just been mugged and thrown to the ground near Abington Avenue and North 15th Street.

The woman told police a man had just stolen her brown and beige zebra-print purse and fled south on North 13th Street in a silver four-door Honda Civic.  She described a partial license plate to police that included “L37.”

The woman, who was treated and released at Clara Maass Medical Center, said she was robbed of her credit cards, identification, keys, bus pass and $50.

Anyone with information about this crime or any other crime should contact the Bloomfield Police Department Detective Squad at 973-680-4084.  

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