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Cops: Jersey City Man Assaulted With Tree Branch Over $10 Drug Debt

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Jersey City police say a man nearly beat another to death with a tree branch over a $10 drug debt.

Thirty-two-year-old Nicholas Rivera is held on $150,000 bail, charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and other charges.

Authorities say the 25-year-old victim was in a deli when Rivera's wife confronted him on Oct. 28 about $10 he owed her for synthetic marijuana. Police say she called her husband when the man wouldn't talk to her.

Police say Rivera beat the man unconscious with the tree branch.

Police tell the Jersey Journal the man suffered an open depressed skull fracture and had bone fragments in his brain.

It's not known if Rivera has a lawyer.

(Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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