Date Published: 2023/07/03
ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — Three teenagers and a young adult were arrested Thursday, June 22, after a series of injury crashes involving a stolen vehicle in Newark, reports Daily Voice.
The events first unfolded in Cedar Grove at about 7:30 a.m. when a 2021 BMW X6 was stolen.
Officers with the New Jersey State Police Auto Theft Task Force who had been tracking the SUV were able to locate the vehicle and follow it into a parking garage off Mount Prospect Avenue, between Delavan Avenue and Ballantine Parkway.
As the detectives approached the SUV on foot, the driver accelerated and appeared to head toward them when it stopped. One officer attempted to open the SUV’s rear door to access the driver but the vehicle was put in reverse and started backing up at a high rate of speed before shifting into drive again.
Two officers were struck by the SUV as its teen driver steered the vehicle toward the exit before speeding away.
Shortly after, on a span of Empire Street near Weequahic Park, the SUV collided head-on with a vehicle driven by a Homeland Security Investigations supervisory agent. After the BMW struck a fence in the area of Meeker Street and Empire Street, all four occupants fled the scene on foot. One juvenile occupant, 15, who ran through the park was hit by an unmarked police car and suffered a broken leg.
Not long after, the driver of the stolen SUV, a 19-year-old man, and the two other passengers, two men aged 19 and 22, were apprehended. All three suspects were arrested Friday, June 23. All three, two of whom were found to have adult criminal histories, face multiple charges. The 15-year-old was also issued delinquency complaints.
Authorities said neither the Homeland Security supervisor nor the NJSP officers sustained serious injuries, but all were transported to University Hospital.
Written by: Brach Eichler Injury Lawyers