Man Charged With Smashing Register With Ax, Biting Officer

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A police officer was bitten by a man who used an ax to smash a gas station cash register while demanding lottery tickets, authorities said Friday.

Assistant Mercer County Prosecutor John Boyle said 39-year-old Anthony Hunter, of Trenton, rushed at and bit the officer on the right hand after police tried to arrest him at a Lukoil station in Ewing.

It's not clear whether the officer was hurt.

Prosecutors say Hunter smashed the store's cash register with an ax Monday and demanded that workers fill a bag with scratch-off lottery tickets before he ran from the station. He has been charged with two counts of robbery.

Boyle says it was Hunter's third robbery attempt at a gas station this month. He also faces charges that on separate occasions he stole a milkshake and later $60 in cash from a Shell station in Trenton in December.

Hunter's attorney tells NJ.com that his client maintains his innocence. The newspaper reports that Hunter is being held on a combined $350,000 bail.