Camden officer stabbed after concert

A Camden police officer was in critical but stable condition at Cooper Hospital Sunday after being stabbed in the chest when he tried to break up a fight Saturday night.

Officials did not release the officer's name, but they said he was a 14-year veteran of the Camden police force.

His wounds were so serious that fellow officers didn't wait for an ambulance; they rushed him to the hospital in a traffic cone truck.

The officer was working a traffic post at Broadway and Mickle Boulevard at about 10:15 p.m., as concertgoers were leaving the Susquehanna Bank Center.

A fight broke out at the intersection, officials said, and the officer, who was in uniform and was wearing a reflective traffic vest, tried to intervene.

He grabbed one of the men from behind. The man then spun around and stabbed the officer in the left side of his chest, officials said.

The officer was able to draw his weapon, and the man dropped his knife and was taken into custody.

Camden County Prosecutor Warren W. Faulk and Camden Police Chief Scott Thomson said in a press release that Ronald Belcher, 28, of Camden, was charged with attempted murder and weapons offenses. Lamont Cloud, 33, also of Camden, was arrested as well and was charged with obstructing justice and resisting arrest.

Both were being held Sunday in the Camden County jail, officials said.

It did not appear that either man, or the group they were fighting with, had been at the concert that night, they said.