NEWBURGH – A man, who was arrested by Newburgh City Police five times since December 5, 2019 for car larcenies, was arrested shortly after 11 p.m. on Monday, February 10 in connection with an attempted assault on officers.

Police were called to the area of Townsend Avenue and Lincoln Terrace to investigate a car larceny in progress.

They located a suspect matching the description of a man they received, identified as Aakif Charles, 30, of Newburgh.

He attempted to flee from officers who tried to apprehend him, fighting with them and trying to assault them with a cordless hand drill he had just stolen as a weapon in an attempt to injure them.

After a lengthy struggle, Charles was taken into custody. One officer and Charles were treated at the hospital for minor injuries sustained during the incident.

Charles was charged with attempted assault, criminal possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, petit larceny and obstructing governmental administration.

He had been detained by officers minutes before this incident as they were investigating a separate car larceny, but he was released because he did not have any stolen property on him.

His five previous arrests involved car larcenies and in one case, a taxi cab robbery.

He was out on the previous charges because of the new bail and criminal justice reform laws.