Westville Man Punched Cop, Had Illegal Gun, Police Say

A Westville man who punched a Camden County Police officer after taking off on a bike to avoid getting arrested was caught in Camden’s Whitman Park neighborhood Sunday night, and now faces a slew of charges, police said.

Dasheem Hamilton, 23, was in a group of three men police said were loitering in the 1200 block of Jackson Street around 10:20 p.m. Sunday, and took off when Officers Gordon Harvey and James Lopez approached the trio.

Hamilton got a block and a half away, near the intersection of Sheridan Street and Mount Ephraim Avenue, when he tried to hide from the two officers, police said, and ran again when Harvey and Lopez spotted him.

When the officers caught up with him for the second time and went to arrest him, Hamilton punched Harvey in the chest, police said, and in the process of being arrested, dropped a loaded 9mm handgun that had two hollow-point rounds in the magazine from his sweatshirt.

“This suspect, armed and willing to attack police officers, is exactly the kind of violent individual we want to remove from the community,” said Chief J. Scott Thomson in a statement. “Our officers risked their own safety to arrest him, and I’m proud of their efforts.”

Hamilton faces single counts each of aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of hollow-point bullets and certain persons not to have weapons, and two counts of resisting arrest.

He was taken to the county jail on $150,000 cash or bond bail, but was unable to post bail because of a probation violation, police said.