Brian Swain (Photo: Ocean County Jail)
Toms River Police and the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office issued a joint statement Wednesday announcing attempted murder charges against a man whose vehicle struck a township police detective during a traffic stop linked to a drug investigation.
Brian Swain, 48, is charged with attempted murder, weapons possession and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is lodged in the Ocean County Jail pending a detention hearing, authorities said.
Swain arrest came after an incident Tuesday during which Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force Detectives and members of the Toms River Township Police Department Special Enforcement Team observed drug activity in the parking lot of a Walgreen’s on River Avenue in Toms River, a spokesman said. A motor vehicle stop was executed just over the Lakewood border in the Seagull Square Mall, but as detectives approached the vehicle, the driver, identified as Swain, quickly accelerated and stopped, police said.
He would accelerate for a second time and strike a Toms River Township police detective, causing injury, the statement said. Swain is alleged to have then driven away, but was eventually stopped in the parking lot by Toms River police and placed under arrest. The detective was transported to the hospital for treatment.
