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David C Turner, 46, had fled a traffic stop in Washington Township when Officer Michael Mordaga spotted his 2013 Chevy Equinox speeding on southbound Route 17 shortly after midnight Tuesday, Paramus Police Chief Kenneth Ehrenberg said.
Officers Nick Tanelli and Kevin Osback joined Mordaga in trying to stop Turner, who lost control of the vehicle and sent it into a guardrail at the exit for Route 4.
Turner had to be subdued after trying to fight the officers, the chief said. They found him carrying 140 heroin folds and 25 small bags of coke, along with a machete, Ehrenberg said.
Turner had served 15 years in state prison for an attempted murder conviction after he shot another Paterson man in the neck in 1998 because he owed him money for drugs.
He was freed in June 2015 -- and only three months later was caught with a semi-automatic handgun, records show. That sent him back to state prison for another five years.
Turner was brought to Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus for treatment of possible injuries following Tuesday's crash. He was later booked at Paramus police headquarters on charges of eluding, assaulting law enforcement officers, resisting arrest and drug offenses.
Turner remained held Wednesday in the Bergen County Jail pending a first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
The officers weren't injured, responders said.
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