After standoff with off-duty cop, Jersey City man charged with threatening two people

Published: Friday, August 05, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Michaelangelo Conte/The Jersey Journal


Jersey City resident Eugene Ortiz is facing weapons and assault charges.

A Jersey City man who threatened to stab two men on a Heights street was quickly held at gunpoint by an off-duty police officer standing nearby, officials said yesterday.

Eugene Ortiz, 25, of Poplar Street, was arrested near his home at 2:11 p.m. Wednesday and charged with aggravated assault, resisting arrest, making terroristic threats and a weapons offense, reports said.

Ortiz, who was charged on a summons and released, made his first appearance on the charges in Central Judicial Processing court in Jersey City yesterday afternoon.

The officer said he had just walked out of his home to head to work when he saw Ortiz following two men and asked: ?Do you know them two males?? reports said. Ortiz answered: ?I?m about to? and he pulled out a knife and ordered the men to ?come over here,? reports said.

The two men ran behind a parked car and the officer took out his gun and ordered Ortiz to drop the knife, reports said, adding that Ortiz turned toward the cop with knife in hand but after several commands, he complied, reports said.

The officer wrestled Ortiz to the ground and held him until a cruiser arrived, reports said.

A witness told police that he saw Ortiz arguing with the men before running into his house and returning with a knife in his hand.