Police: Suspect who escaped from NJ police car tried to gnaw off fingerprints

Police: NJ suspect tried to gnaw off fingertips

MIDDELTOWN, N.J. — Authorities said a man who escaped from the back of a police car in New Jersey tried to gnaw off his fingerprints. Police captured Keith Simmonds Jr. in Middletown on Monday. Authorities said the 21-year-old’s fingertips were bloodied.

Atlantic Highlands police arrested Simmonds and a passenger in his vehicle on drug charges after officers stopped them and said they found marijuana on Sunday night.

Police said Simmonds managed to move his handcuffed arms to the front of his body, kick out the side window of the patrol car and escape while officers used a drug-detection dog to search his car.

Simmonds was being held in the Monmouth County jail on $135,000 bail. It’s not known if he has a lawyer.

Information from: Asbury Park Press, www.app.com