The Essex County Prosecutor's Office and Orange police yesterday confirmed that they are investigating a weekend shooting and aggravated assault incident that followed a collision between a cab drive and an off-duty city police officer riding a motorcycle.

Jean C. Raymond, 29, a cab driver who lives on Halsted Street in East Orange, was charged with aggravated assault for deliberately ramming into the policeman, and with fleeing the scene of an accident at Tremont and Mosswood avenues, according to Orange Police Director Charles Cobbertt.

The charges were lodged against Raymond by Officer Madison Brown, 27, who was off duty when the collision occured at 7:12 p.m. Sunday, he added.

Brown told police he fired five shots at Raymond's 1981 Dodge cab following the collision, because the suspect knocked him to the ground by backing his taxi into him. Raymond ran over and destroyed Brown's motorcycle, then fled toward East Orange, Cobbertt continued.

Following the collision, Brown "reported that he identified himself as a police officer, pulled out his badge and displayed it at the driver's side window of the cab," Cobbertt explained.

"The driver did not respond and instead began racing his car engine as Officer Brown shouted, 'I'm a police officer. Don't move the car.' The suspect then reversed his car, backed up, ran over the motorcycle, and knocked Officer Brown to the ground." he said.

Brown reported that after getting up, he pulled out his revolver and fired five shots, two of which hit the cab, before Raymond drove off, Cobbertt said.

"Within minutes," East Orange police caught Raymond and returned him to Orange, Cobbertt said.

Brown, treated at Orange Memorial Hospital for injuries to his shoulder, neck and left arm, returned to police headquarters about 10 that night and filed charges against Raymond for aggravated assault and fleeing the scene of an accident, he added.

Raymond, employed by the Westlande Taxi Corp. Inc. on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in East Orange, was jailed overnight and released after posting bail, pending the outcome of an investigation by Orange police and the prosecutor's office, noted Acting Orange Police Chief Anthony Benevento.

A preliminary report on the incident has been sent to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office in Newark for review, John S. Redden, a deputy first assistant prosecutor, confirmed.

The prosecutor's office routinely investigates all shooting incidents in the county, he said.

Capt. John Rappaport, the Orange Police Department's internal affairs officer, also is investigating to see whether Brown used his weapon in conformance with guidelines established by the prosecutor's office and the state Attorney General's Office.

Benevento said Brown, employed by the Orange police since Jan. 3, 1983, is assigned to the patrol division's day shift.

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“Reach Back with One Hand and Pull Someone Else Up With You.”

– Charles C. Cobbertt

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