NJ Man Faces Robbery Charges After Allegedly Smashing Register With Ax, Biting Officer

TRENTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork/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.

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

It's not clear whether the officer was hurt.

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, prosecutors said. He has been charged with two counts of robbery.

Boyle said  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.

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