Suspected heroin dealer charged with trying to kill cop during escape attempt

Isaiah Roberts was charged with trying to kill a police officer with his car, authorities said

File photo 

TRENTON -- A suspected heroin dealer who was shot at by police in Sayreville has been charged with attempted murder and other offenses relating to his attempt to escape arrest last year, authorities said.

Isaiah Roberts, 39, of the Parlin section of Old Bridge, was indicted by a state grand jury on charges of attempted murder, eluding, aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of heroin and possession of heroin with the intent to distribute, said acting Attorney General Christopher Porrino on Friday.

Roberts was the target of a drug investigation in January 2015 when members of the Middlesex County Gangs, Guns and Drugs Task Force met up with him in the parking lot of a Rite-Aid store on Washington Avenue.

Authorities said he made arrangements to meet there to sell five "bricks" of heroin to a detective working undercover.

When Roberts arrived at the parking lot, he did not park next to the undercover detective's car and instead drove past the vehicle and tried to leave the lot, authorities said. When he saw police cars blocking the driveway, Roberts put his car in reverse and sped off, ignoring the officers' commands to stop, authorities said.

Middlesex drug task officer fires rifle at suspected heroin dealer in Sayreville

Investigators said Roberts struck an officer with his vehicle and sent him "flying into the air." They said Roberts continued to drive erratically, aiming his car at the officer he had just hit.

Another officer fired five rounds from his service rifle at Roberts, who was not hit and who continued to try to get out of the parking lot. Roberts' car finally came to a stop after it crashed into several marked and unmarked police vehicles, authorities said.

When Roberts was arrested, police found on him five bricks of heroin, investigators said.  The officer who was struck was taken by ambulance to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick where he was treated for an injured wrist, authorities said.

As are all cases involving police officers who fire their weapons, the incident was reviewed by the Attorney General's Shooting Response Team. 

Using those findings, Elie Honig, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, concluded that the officer who fired his weapon used an acceptable level of force to protect the officer who had just been hit from further injury or death while Roberts continued to aim his car at him, Porrino said.

The indictment was handed up to Superior Court Judge Mary C. Jacobson in Mercer County, who assigned the case to Middlesex County, where Roberts will be ordered to appear at a later date for arraignment.