Police: Ex-High School Wrestler Steals Beach Cart, Assaults Five People

Lukas Iorio, a former champion wrestler from Bergen Catholic High School (N.J.), was arrested Sunday for an alleged Jersey Shore beach cart rampage that totaled at 13 charges against him and at least five fights.

Police charged Iorio with a baker's dozen: burglary, resisting arrest, carjacking, assault by auto, two counts of criminal mischief, four counts of simple assault, reckless driving, driving under the influence, and leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury.

NJ.com acquired a copy of the press release from the Manasquan Police Department, and the incident sounds like a few minutes of Grand Theft Auto:

Witnesses said Iorio approached the cart as it was being driven on the beach by a member of the Manasquan Beach Patrol about 8:30 p.m. and jumped feet first through the plastic windshield, landing on a front seat, the release from Police Chief Elliott Correia said.

Correia said he then assaulted both occupants of the cart, forcing them from the vehicle. Witnesses said Iorio drove the cart toward the inlet "at a high rate of speed while swerving at pedestrians," the release said. He hit and injured a 49-year-old man who twice tried to avoid the cart, Correia said.

He eventually crashed the vehicle into a gazebo, but then ran to a nearby bicycle rack where he apparently tried to steal a bike, the release said. Iorio then punched another man who had apparently came to see if he was OK following the crash and also tried to calm him.

Iorio then fled into a backyard, entered a home through an unlocked door and came face-to-face with its occupants, one of whom, a 72-year-old resident, he repeatedly punched in the face and head, Correia said in the release.

The beach patrol and some of Iorio's family members eventually stopped his violent spree. Here's some highlights from his wrestling days.

[ NJ.com]

H/t to Ian