Cops say man who carjacked cruiser injures officer at hospital

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. (AP) -- The charges keep piling up for a Connecticut man accused of stealing a police car and ramming four cruisers during a wild chase Sunday in northern New Jersey.

Sereymanta Kong, 22, has been charged with injuring four police officers, the latest being a sheriff's officer who guarded him at a hospital. The Record newspaper reported that Kong became combative Monday as a nurse tried to give him medication and the sheriff's officer fell while trying to restrain him.

The chase began Sunday afternoon when Kong stole the SUV of a woman who stopped to help as he was lying in the street, police said. Kong fled and was seemingly trapped on a dead-end road, but rammed two cars and jumped out of the cruiser.

Kong fought with two officers and somehow made it into the driver's seat of a police car to make his getaway, police said. He drove through several Bergen County towns before an officer slammed into the back of the hijacked cruiser, forcing it off the highway.

He jumped out of the car and tried to escape, but was captured by officers who chased him down. He tried to steal an officer's gun from his holster and bit another officer's leg before he was finally taken into custody, bringing the 22-minute chase to an end in Paramus, police said.

The University of Connecticut in Storrs student was charged with 17 counts of various offenses, including assaulting police.

He was being held on about $1.3 million bail at the Bergen County Jail. It's unclear if he has an attorney who could comment on the charges.

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