Township Man Mistaken For Fugitive In Manhunt

There were cops everywhere.

Wall Township cops. State cops. Howell Township cops. State Park cops.

They were on foot, in cars, in plain clothes, in uniforms. And hovering above in last Friday’s blue skies, a State Police helicopter was buzzing so low Allenwood resident Brian Messenlehner thought it was going to land in his neighbor’s yard.

Messenlehner, a web developer who works from his Allaire Road home, had no idea what was going on. Maybe there was a bad accident on the nearby Garden State Parkway. Maybe it was something else.

. And it was right outside his door.

“I have an 11-year-old daughter who plays in the front yard all the time,’’ Messenlehner, 31, said. “So I was concerned.’’

He mounted his bicycle, made a right and headed down Allenwood Road toward Route 34, where all the action seemed to congeal.

It was about 2:30 p.m.

A LITTLE more than two hours earlier, Patrolman Justin Hudson spotted something he didn’t like on the Garden State Parkway, near Exit 98.

Hudson pulled over Kevin T. Brown for failure to make repairs to his vehicle. It was shortly before noon.

Brown, 37, had an outstanding warrant from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office for a parole violation for resisting arrest. He didn’t wait to see what Patrolman Hudson wanted. He opened the door and fled, on foot, running across all lanes of the Parkway in heavy Friday traffic.

“It was a suicide move, but it’s what he did,’’ Police Chief Robert Brice said.

Brown made it across the busy road and disappeared into a wooded area, sending police on a manhunt that wouldn’t end for seven hours.

An alert went out to be on the lookout for a white male, mid-thirties, wearing a dark baseball cap and dark pants, Brice said. A state police helicopter took flight. K-9 units were dispatched and had tracked the scent near the area of Atlantic Avenue and Allenwood Road, Brice said.

A resident in the area reported that the doors of their Atlantic Avenue home had been left open without their knowledge or permission, leading police to believe someone had run through the front door of the home, and out the back door, Brice said.

MESSENLEHNER, a former Marine who spent some time in Iraq, didn’t have far to ride. Police from all jurisdictions had gathered at Allenwood Road and Route 34, about ¾ mile from his house, on the edge of a wooded area just south of the Exit 98 off-ramp.

A Wall Township patrol car passed him heading in the opposite direction. It was one of many Messenlehner had seen in the previous hour or more, he said.

He met eyes with the officer driving. Messenlehner said he remembers the officer staring at him intently. He thought nothing of it and rode on.

About 1/3-mile into his bike trip, he saw someone down Leumas Terrace, a short side street perpendicular to Allenwood that backs up to the Parkway. He rode down the street to ask the man, dressed in street clothes, what was going on.

As he approached, the police car he had passed had circled back and parked behind Messenlehner. The man Messenlehner had asked for information ran to the car.

“I thought ‘Oh, man something’s going down right now,’’ Messenlehner said. “I thought maybe the guy I was talking to was the guy they were looking for.’’

He wasn’t.

It was Messenlehner. Or so police thought.

POLICE and Messenlehner tell almost exactly the same story about what happened next, each with their own emphasis, convergent, on specific details.

The plain-clothed officer pointed toward Messenlehner and said something. The Wall uniformed officer told Messenlehner to drop his bike and put his hands behind his head. Messenlehner said the officer's gun was drawn, about eight feet from his head.

He froze.

The officer repeated his orders.

“I didn’t really compute what was going on,’’ Messenlehner said. “I was in the Marines for four years and this was definitely the first time I was looking at a loaded weapon pointed right at me.’’

He was taken to the ground and handcuffed.

Brice in an interview Tuesday said the officer's gun was drawn after Messenlehner did not comply with the original order. Messenlehner said the gun was already drawn and contributed to his delayed response.

Messenlehner said he was still confused as police checked his identification.

“It was pretty scary,’’ Messenlehner said. “I just kind of wanted to know what was going on. I guess the police really thought they had their man. At least I hope so.’’

They likely did. Messenlehner fit the description: white, mid-thirties, between 5’8’’ and 5’10’’, medium build. It all describes Messenlehner. He was even wearing a black baseball cap at the time.

He was only detained about 10 minutes – just long enough for the police to figure out Messenlehner was a resident in the area on a perhaps ill-advised fact-finding mission.

“I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,’’ he said.

Messenlehner said he was a little shaken up by the experience, and not sure how to feel about it.

"Do I feel safer because they did that, or do I feel violated?'' Messenlehner said.

Messenlehner, who says he bears no ill-will toward the officer who detained him, said he likely would have stayed home if there were some communication about what was taking place in his neighborhood.

Brice said officers were knocking on doors in the neighborhood to inform residents what was taking place, when they could.

He also said the department is looking into using social media to communicate with residents. Brice did not indicate if there was any time line on that initiative, however.

BROWN was eventually caught, several hours after Messenlehner’s interaction with the police, in roughly the same area where the Allenwood resident was cuffed.

.

Messenlehner said he’ll likely not be going out of his house the next time he hears sirens in the neighborhood.

“Next time I’m staying home,’’ he said.