Alleged Bloods Members Accused of Threatening Man Who Was Punched in Point Pleasant Borough

A Brick man reported to police that he was punched in the jaw by a man outside Cove Point Motel and then threatened by two other men claiming to be Bloods gang members, Point Pleasant Borough police Capt. Richard Larsen said Thursday.

Police were called to the motel on Bay Avenue in Point Pleasant Borough at 9:57 a.m. Sunday, Larsen said.

The Brick man reported to police that he and a few friends had stayed in the motel Saturday night and that he had been talking to a girl in the motel parking lot early Sunday morning, Larsen said.

The man told police that while he was talking to the girl, three men walked out of a motel room at about 2:30 a.m., Larsen said.

One of the three men, a white man, punched him and the other two, black men, threatened "bodily harm" and said they were Bloods members, Larsen said.

One of the men who is allegedly a Bloods member recently moved out of the motel where he had been living for a while, Larsen said.

The victim did not appear to be injured and did not need any first aid treatment or visit to a hospital, Larsen said.

No charges have been filed, but the investigation is still continuing, Larsen said.

When asked if the borough has a gang problem, Larsen said, "We don't have a pervasive gang problem here. The borough is still a very safe community to live in.

"But there is no community in the country that is immune to gang activity," he said. "We do have an element of gang membership here. Some is transient. Some is not.

"We do encounter members of the Bloods and other gangs here from time to time," he continued. "And, when we do, we establish a plan of attack.

"That includes investigation, surveillance and tracking," Larsen said. "And when we develop probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, we make arrests because we have a zero-tolerance policy for this kind of activity."

Police are not releasing any other details yet, pending the ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information about this incident or gang activity in general is asked to call police at (732) 892-0060.