Ridgefield Man Caught With 8-Inch Survival Knife, Police Say

A Ridgefield resident was arrested on July 5 in Summit after he was seen with a survival knife with an 8-½ inch blade, police said.

Summit Police Sgt. Tom Rich pulled up alongside 30-year-old Thomas Herman's vehicle at the corner of Morris Avenue and Broad Street and saw the knife at about 9 a.m., police said.

“He had the knife in his hand and was wiping it down with a cloth,” Summit Police Capt. Steven Zagorski told Patch. “[Rich] saw the size and type of the knife, and pulled him over. He conducted an investigation, seized the knife and placed him under arrest.”

Under the New Jersey Code of Criminal Justice statute, a citizen cannot be in possession of a weapon “under circumstances that are not perceived as appropriate for lawful use,” Zagorski told Patch. While Herman’s knife is often used for hunting, it’s illegal to carry around that type of knife under the state statute.

Herman was charged with unlawful possession of weapons, a fourth-degree crime, and was released without having to post bail while his case is pending in court.