NJ Weedman is trading in the blunts for blunt instruments.
Police in Miami say that Trenton's "peaceful pothead" bashed a man in the head with a fire extinguisher. Again.
Ed Forchion, aka NJ Weedman, was seen on video in 2019 using a fire extinguisher to hit two men in his Trenton establishment, Weedman's Joint.
The 2019 incident did not land any charges for Forchion as he said he had been fighting with the men and was defending himself and his business establishment from the men who were trespassing.
This time, police in Florida are charging him with "attempted felony murder," a felony count of "burglary with assault or battery/armed," and a misdemeanor count of "battery," according to a police report obtained by The Trentonian.
Miami police were dispatched just before 1 a.m. Feb. 12 to Jackson Medical Hospital when a man came to the emergency room with a head injury saying he had been hit with a fire extinguisher.
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Police say the victim gave a "sworn digital recorded statement" in which he told them the attack happened about 12:15 a.m. at The Joint of Miami, a club owned by Forchion's son. Forchion's Facebook page lists himself as being the "Founder" of the Miami location, and he is the owner of The Joint in Trenton.
The police report says the victim waited outside the "Joint of Miami" because his friends wanted to go there. While outside, Forchion allegedly came outside with a fire extinguisher and began spraying the victim, who ran from Forchion and got into a vehicle to avoid being sprayed.
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Police say Forchion sprayed the victim inside of the vehicle, forcing him to exit the car. Once out of the vehicle, Forchion struck the victim twice in the side of the head with the extinguisher.
The report states that police saw the vehicle with fire extinguisher residue on the hood, dried blood on the victim and in the street.
Forchion was detained for questioning and subsequently arrested Tuesday by Miami police. He was released from custody Wednesday after a court hearing but is awaiting further court action.
His lawyer told a Florida TV news station, Local 10 News, that Forchion was wrongly arrested. "It appears the police simply took the word of the alleged victim without doing their due diligence," Attorney Michael Mirer told the station's reporter.
One of Forchion's employees told the reporter that Forchion was defending himself and that the victim had been fired and was trespassing the night of the attack.
The victim told The Trentonian that Forchion's narrative was all false. He said Forchion didn't fire him, but that he quit when Forchion was unable to pay his employees, saying the Florida business is "failing" despite how the Weedman portrays things on social media.
He also said Forchion's employee quoted by Local 10 News was not there the night of the incident, which would mean the employee was relaying Forchion's version of the events to the reporter.
The victim said he worked for Forchion for about eight years and quit two months prior to the attack. "I was not banned nor trespassing, and the reason I left the establishment is because Ed isn't able to pay." He also told The Trentonian that Forchion's actions were "not self-defense. He fled the scene and the state."
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Video of Forchion acting out violently also surfaced in 2022 when his former girlfriend and business partner released a video of him pushing her to the ground and threatening her. He said at the time that she was the aggressor and that the video footage was "stolen" from his computers. "She was harassing me. She was the one who could not handle her emotions," Forchion said at the time. "If I wanted to punch her, I could have. If I wanted to beat her up, I could have. I didn't do neither one of those things."
Forchion took to Facebook live around 5 p.m. to tell his 16,000 followers about the ordeal.
"Last couple days was like a nightmare, like a deja vu type nightmare," Forchion says in the video, speaking only in vague terms about the incident. He also said he would release a public statement soon and that he was getting ready to fly back to New Jersey.
"I'm gonna make a formal announcement later. I gotta write up my own press release," Forchion said on the Facebook live video. "Some drama happened this week here in Florida. ... Sooner or later there's gonna be some public issues I'm going to have to address."
Court records from Miami Dade County show that Forchion's lawyer demanded a jury trial on the charges and that a surety bond of $2,500 was set.
Forchion has posted on his Facebook page that he is back in New Jersey.
He posted a link to the Local 10 story about the arrest, disputing many of the details but not challenging the premise that he struck the victim with a fire extinguisher.
"Stand your ground includes fire extinguishers," Forchion wrote in the post. "Because I'm a felon I cannot be caught with a GUN. So it's my preferred self defense tool."
Forchion repeated the promise to tell his full version of the events, "PS — I will release my own PRESS RELEASE with a day or so with exxonerating VIDEO."
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