A teen mother is in custody after police say she attacked police officers while holding her infant child.
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Sunday night, Camden County Police officers were dispatched to a home on S. 4th Street in Lanning Square. Police say they were searching for 20-year-old Jonathan Ortiz-Roldan, a fugitive from Camden who was wanted on outstanding warrants.
When police arrived, they say they spotted Ortiz-Roldan standing on the front porch of the home and told him he was under arrest. Ortiz-Roldan allegedly ran into the house and the officers chased after him.
Investigators say one of the officers entered the home and detained Ortiz-Roldan inside. As two more officers went inside the house, 18-year-old Jazmine Mercado of Camden allegedly tried to block their access. Mercado then punched one of the officers in the face while she held her 3-week old daughter, according to investigators. As officers tried to detain Mercado, she allegedly punched and pushed them as she continued to hold her child.
Mercado was eventually detained and arrested. She is charged with aggravated assault on an officer, resisting arrest and endangering the welfare of a child. She was remanded to the county jail on $35,000 cash bail.
Ortiz-Roldan is charged with resisting arrest. He was remanded to the county jail for nine outstanding warrants, including a parole warrant. He is being held without bail to await his parole officer.
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“Our officers showed tremendous restraint managing a volatile situation in which a mother put her own child at risk to assault police officers,” said Camden County Police Chief J. Scott Thomson. “Thankfully, this incident was resolved without anyone being seriously injured and with the fugitive officers were seeking brought to justice.”
