NJ Fire Captain Hospitalized After Assault At Homeless Encampment

NEWARK, NJ - A Newark fire captain was hospitalized Sunday after being assaulted while responding to a fire in the city, officials said.

At around 11:05 a.m., after fire personnel extinguished a fire under Route 21 at the 100 block of Riverside Avenue at a homeless encampment, a homeless man struck the fire captain with a can of food, according to Newark Public Safety Director Fritz Fragé.

The captain was subsequently taken to University Hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening injury, officials said. The captain was not named in initial information provided to Patch.

The suspect was arrested and also taken to University Hospital for crisis evaluation.

This incident remains under investigation, officials said.