A Galloway Township man accused of a knife attack on two police officers in April was ordered held in jail Tuesday.
Keith Kiminsky, 30, "laid in wait" at his parent's home April 7, while armed with a knife, Judge Pam D'Arcy said in making her ruling.
Officers were responding to three 911 hang-up calls all made from Kiminsky's phone, according to information released at his detention hearing. When dispatch called back, they got his voice mail.
Kiminsky darted out of the residence and came at Officer Erik Tarnow just seconds after his mother came out of her front door telling the officers he had a knife, video released by police at the time shows.
"My son's having (muted by video)," the woman tells Tarnow. "He's got a knife with him right now."
The detention hearing revealed the muted words were "mental health issues."
"He's got a knife?" Tarnow asks, as the woman confirms.
Just after asking where the son is, Kiminisky quickly walks out of the house toward the officer.
"Hold on. Hold on. Hold on," Tarnow says, as the body camera footage shows his hand go up to halt the man. "Stop!"
Tarnow was slashed in the cheek so deeply that his teeth showed through, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
The struggle continued for 3½ minutes, until Kiminsky was disarmed. Even then, he continued to struggle, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Erika Halayko told the judge.
Officer Hunter Thomas, who came to Tarnow's aid, suffered a head injury and cut to his hand.
"There's more than enough to show the defendant's actions were intentional," Halayko said. "This case is particularly disturbing. The defendant's actions were particularly predatory."
But the pending charges are not supposed to be the sole reason to hold someone, defense attorney Kevin Moses said, pointing to Kiminsky's lack of criminal history that put him at the lowest scale under bail reform, with a one for both danger and likelihood to appear for court. The public safety assessment works on a six-point system, with one the lowest.
It still recommended he not be released.
"This is what an attempted murder looks like," Moses said of the biggest charge his client faces.
"I don’t think the argument that this is a really bad attempted murder is an argument," he added.
But the judge found that Kiminsky is too much of a risk, pointing out that his mother was not able to control him at the scene, and was not even the one who called for help.
Kiminsky later told police he called because he wanted to die.
He remains in the Atlantic County Justice Facility. A competency evaluation is still pending.
