Wrestling star goes totally berserk at NJ beach

Wrestling star goes totally berserk at NJ beach


A New Jersey high school wrestling star stole a beach patrol buggy and used it to try to mow people down on the boardwalk in a bizarre, alcohol-fueled rampage, police say.

Lukas Iorio, 20, punched out two Manasquan, New Jersey beach patrol employees, mugged them and threw them out of the open-air vehicle before taking off on his wild ride. He eventually crashed the buggy but that wasn’t the end of his rampage — when a bystander when to check on him, Iorio punched him too. Then he broke into a nearby home, punching a 72-year-old man before other residents were able to retrain him and wait for police to arrive, according to Manasquan, New Jersey police Chief Elliot Correia.

“It’s almost like he was role-playing, in, like, ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ with the way he took control of the vehicle – drove down the beachwalk aiming at people and hitting at least one person; crashing the vehicle,” Correia told the local CBS affiliate.

The suspect’s father, Tony Iorio, told CBS that he was upset and surprised by his son’s behavior.

“You know, he’s not a criminal; he’s a kid who did something really, really stupid,” Iorio said. “The kid’s never, ever been in trouble before. The kid’s a scholar athlete. He had a 95 average at Bergen Catholic. I don’t know what happened.”

Alcohol certainly happened, at the very least. Iorio was legally drunk when he was arrested. He refused a drug test.

Iorio just completed his first year at Gettysburg College