2 held as Riverside sergeant is injured when dragged by car

A police sergeant investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle was injured early Saturday when she was dragged 30 to 40 feet by the car outside a Burlington County elementary school, police said.

Amaya Urtasun, a 16-year veteran of the Riverside Township Police Department, was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden for treatment of knee and abdominal injuries.

The occupants of the car, Brandon Belton, 23, of Willingboro, and Bonnie Manning, 39, of Riverside, face multiple charges in the incident, which occurred shortly after 1 a.m.

Officers were investigating the suspicious-vehicle report, but Belton attempted to drive away, dragging Urtasun and throwing her into a parked car, police said. The vehicle then slammed into an occupied patrol car.

Both Belton and Manning were removed from the car and taken into custody without incident. Officers recovered an undisclosed amount of suspected marijuana that was in plain view inside the vehicle, police said.

Belton and Manning were taken to Burlington County Jail.