LYNDHURST –
It started as an alleged speeding incident and led to a frantic chase that ended in three arrests.
Here’s the account given by Lyndhurst Police:
Shortly after 2 p.m. on July 14, Patrol Officer James Goral pulled over a 2008 BMW traveling east on Page Ave. for exceeding the speed limit at the Schuyler Ave. intersection.
As Goral approached the vehicle, however, police said the driver suddenly pulled away, made a U-turn, and headed west on Page, turning on numerous side streets.
Police said the driver continued up to Ridge Road northbound, eventually turning west onto Valley Brook Ave. and then north onto Delafield Ave. where he encountered other patrol vehicles.
Trying to avoid the officers, the driver attempted an evasive maneuver, only to lose control and came to a stop after striking a small tree, police said.
As officers ordered the occupants to exit, the driver suddenly accelerated in reverse, sideswiping and causing slight damage to one of the police vehicles, and fleeing south on Delafield, then south on Weart Ave.
The BMC stopped in the 300 block of Weart where the two passengers were placed under arrest while the driver fled on foot, east, through several backyards before being captured on Lincoln Ave. by Officer Philip Reina and Det. Michael Lemanowicz.
No one was injured during the chase, police said.
Police said they found altered/ fake credit cards, along with a small amount of marijuana, inside the BMW.
The suspects, Christopher Johnson, 23, of Bayside, N.Y., the driver of the BMW; Sheardwood Michel, 25, of St. Albans, N.Y.; and Dwayne Thompson, 22, of New York, N.Y., were all charged with eluding, hindering, resisting arrest, falsely making, counterfeiting or altering a credit card, identity theft, possession of marijuana and aggravated assault.
Johnson, who was also issued several motor vehicle summonses for traffic violations, had bail set at $40,000, with no 10% cash option while bail for Michel and Thompson was set at $37,500 each, also with no 10% option.
All three were ordered held at the Bergen County Jail pending prosecution.
– Ron Leir
