Weehawken Man Sexually Assaults Woman, Attacks Officers, Police Say

HUDSON COUNTY, NJ — A 27-year-old Weehawken man has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman at his home, prosecutors said.

Dennis Hackett was charged with sexual assault, simple assault, throwing bodily fluids at a police officer, and other charges, said the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

The Weehawken Police Department responded shortly before 2 a.m. to a report of a "woman in distress" inside an apartment inn Port Imperial, a development on the Hudson River.

"Responding officers located a female victim who reported being physically and sexually assaulted by a male at his residence," prosecutors said. "The Weehawken Police Department identified and apprehended a person of interest, later identified as Dennis Hackett."

Hackett was first charged by the Special Victims Unit with sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, and simple assault, but was later charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, throwing bodily fluids at a police officer, resisting arrest, and criminal restraint.

He is being detained at the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending a detention motion, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 23, prosecutors said.

Prosecutor Esther Suarez credited the Special Victims Unit and the Weehawken Police Department with the investigation and arrest. Anyone wishing to report a sex crime should call the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit (SVU) at 201-915-1234.