Police: Hackensack man stabbed himself and threw intestines at officers

 

HACKENSACK — A man who stabbed himself repeatedly in front of police — and then threw his skin and intestines at them — remains in critical condition Tuesday morning, police said.

Police said they got a call at 10 p.m. Sunday from someone saying Wayne Carter, 43, had a knife and was threatening to hurt himself.

When police officers arrived at the Clay Street home, they kicked in a door to his room, which had been blocked with furniture, said Lt. John Heinemann.

Carter was in the corner of the room with a knife in his hand, and he stood up, he yelled at police while stabbing himself all over his body. Officers noticed that his intestines were protruding from a wound in his abdomen, Heinemann said. Carter allegedly threw some of his skin and intestines at officers as they tried to enter the room, Heinemann said.

The officers ordered him to drop the 12-inch kitchen knife, but he didn’t. Carter is accused of swinging the knife at officers, police said. The officers sprayed two cans of pepper spray at the man without any effect.
The officers retreated and called the Bergen County SWAT Team, which helped subdue Carter so he could be taken to Hackensack University Medical Center.

He underwent emergency surgery, and remained in critical condition Tuesday. Carter had a history of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest and has been taken to the hospital for psychiatric reasons in the past, Heinemann said.

UPDATE:

A Hackensack man who stabbed himself at least 40 times and threw his intestines at police told officers responding to the bizarre scene that he wanted to die and was about to go to heaven, authorities said Friday.

But quick thinking by Bergen County SWAT team members, allowed Wayne Carter, 44, to be brought out of his mother’s Clay Street home alive. He remains in critical condition at Hackensack University Medical Center recovering from his partial disembowelment but is expected to live, Hackensack police Capt. Thomas Salcedo said.

Carter, who authorities say has been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in the past, is an example of a person who has fallen through the cracks in the social safety net and is not noticed until an act of desperation lands him in the headlines. Police deal with the untreated mentally ill and homeless on a regular basis, trying to move them into the appropriate social programs.

Worst they’ve seen
But both Salcedo and the Bergen County Police SWAT team commander, Lt. Michael Devine, said they had never in their long careers encountered anything like the horrific scenario that played out for almost two hours Sunday night.

Police received a call at 10 p.m. from Carter’s brother, who said Carter was threatening to injure himself with a knife. When they arrived at the home in which Carter sometimes resides, Carter had barricaded himself inside his room and blocked the door with furniture.

Hackensack police kicked in the door and found Carter in a corner with a knife in one hand and a hammer in the other, Devine said.

Carter stood up, shouted at the officers, then stabbed his abdomen dozens of times, eviscerating himself, police said. Officers noticed his entrails protruding from a long wound in his abdomen. He then threw intestines and skin at them as they tried to enter the room, police said.

Carter refused to drop the knife and swung it at officers, who used two cans of pepper spray to subdue him, to no avail. The county SWAT team was then called to the scene.