Andrew McNeil

Courier-Post

A Lindenwold man faces charges for allegedly attacking a police officer and trying to steal a patrol car — in the nude.

Byron Neville, 28, was believed to be high on "wet" — marijuana laced with PCP — when he was arrested Tuesday night after the alleged assault, according to Lindenwold police.

The bizarre incident began shortly after 10:20 p.m. when an officer stopped two people at the Arborwood condo complex.

"Immediately as (the officer) got out of his car to deal with those people, he was punched in the face from behind," Lindenwold Police Chief Thomas Brennan said.

The officer, whose name was not released, turned around to see a naked Neville, sweating profusely and out of breath.

SEE ALSO: Florence cop jumps into suspect's moving car, makes arrest

"(Neville) basically claimed that this was his neighborhood and the officer needs to leave," Brennan related.

The officer reportedly tried to take Neville into custody while the suspect continued to attack. Neville, however, proved too slippery to control and broke free.

Neville then jumped into the officer's patrol car and attempted to steal it, authorities said.

"The officer and a backup officer continued to struggle with the male and were able to remove him from the patrol car," said a police account.

But Neville was able to slip from the officers' grasp and run away.

A short foot chase ended when Neville jumped into a pickup truck filled with scrap metal, where he was finally arrested by several officers, according to Brennan.

Neville was charged with numerous offenses, including carjacking and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. He was being held at Camden County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail.

The officer whom Neville allegedly punched suffered minor injuries and did not require medical attention.

SEE MORE SOUTH JERSEY CRIME NEWS

Brennan said his officers have dealt with "wet" on a few occasions, but use of the drug is not rampant in the borough.

The force, he noted, had a similar incident last fall, in which a naked man broke into a home and several officers were needed to take him into custody.

"Obviously it's a physiological response that the body has (that) they feel overheated and they strip down," Brennan explained of the drug's effect.

"But why they get bizarre like that is beyond me."

PCP can cause hallucinations, anxiety, feelings of impending doom, paranoia and violence, according to the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The drug was developed more than 60 years ago as an intravenous anesthetic. Detrimental side effects during clinical trials voided any approval for human use of the drug.

"Wet" has played a role in several heinous crimes in South Jersey in recent years. In March 2008, a nude, knife-wielding city teen attacked a Camden policewoman before being shot dead.

The officer was also shot several times, but survived.

In August 2012, a Camden mother decapitated her 2-year-old son, put his head in a freezer and stabbed herself to death with a kitchen knife after ending a rambling, six-minute call to 911.

The following month, a city man allegedly high on "wet" entered a Camden home and assaulted a 12-year-old girl. He then allegedly killed the girl's 6-year-old brother as the boy tried to fend him off.

In January 2013, a Pennsauken man allegedly smoked "wet" before he caused a head-on crash that killed a mother and daughter in Merchantville.

Reach Andy McNeil at amcneil@courierpostonline.com or (856) 486-2458. Follow him on Twitter@Andy_McNeil