Mayor says officer had never shown erratic behavior before
By Joanne Degnan, Managing Editor
ROBBINSVILLE — Police Sgt. Mark Lee has been charged with assaulting a disabled woman in a wheelchair and her 4-year-old child inside her home Monday in the Project Freedom development, the prosecutor’s office said.
After Sgt. Lee, 44, was taken into custody by his fellow officers, he kicked out the patrol car’s side rear window and jumped out of the vehicle, the prosecutor’s office said. Police officers chased him on foot and subdued him after a struggle.
The sergeant, an 18-year veteran of the Robbinsville Police Department, was taken to the Crisis Center at Capital Regional Medical Center where he remained Tuesday, the prosecutor’s office said.
Sgt. Lee has been charged with official misconduct, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, five counts of aggravated assault upon a police officer and one count each of burglary, harassment and criminal mischief, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Casey DeBlasio, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, said Tuesday Sgt. Lee did not use his service weapon during the incident. Although she initially had reported Tuesday that the victims had declined medical treatment, she said Wednesday she had since learned from investigators that the mother and child were treated and released for “minor cuts, scrapes and bruises” at a local hospital.
Mayor Dave Fried said Tuesday the family involved was “obviously very shook up” by the incident.
”Our hearts and prayers go out to this family,” Mayor Fried said.
Mayor Fried said Sgt. Lee had “never exhibited erratic behavior before” during nearly two decades on the Robbinsville police force.
”This was extremely difficult for our officers who had to arrest one of their own,” Mayor Fried said. “They had to arrest their own sergeant.”
The incident occurred at 9:30 p.m. at Project Freedom, a development for the disabled on Hutchinson Road. Sgt. Lee, who was on duty at the time, “showed up” at the home, Ms. DeBlasio said, but had not been dispatched there on a police call.
”He wasn’t there in any official or personal capacity,” Mayor Fried said, declining to elaborate.
According to the news release from the prosecutor’s office, Sgt. Lee followed the 45-year-old woman and child into the bathroom, a struggle ensued, and Sgt. Lee physically assaulted them.
The mother and child were able to make their way out of the bathroom into the master bedroom with a caretaker and call police, the prosecutor’s office said. Sgt. Lee then broke into the bedroom, knocked the mother from her wheelchair and assaulted her again, the prosecutor’s office said. The father was in his wheelchair in the living room when the incident occurred.
Robbinsville police responded at 9:30 p.m. to a call about a woman being physically assaulted and found Sgt. Lee sitting on the couch inside the home, the prosecutor’s office said. He was taken into custody, but escaped from the patrol car during transport by kicking out the side rear window. Officers chased him and after a struggle were able to subdue him and bring him to the Crisis Center.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Thomas Sumners set bail at $250,000 and ordered Sgt. Lee to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Sgt. Lee has been suspended without pay. His salary was $113,833 a year, according to township officials.
Mayor Fried said the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the criminal investigation, instead of the township police department, in order to avoid a conflict of interest.
Robbinsville police declined to comment on the case and referred all calls to the mayor.

